Diospyros australis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Diospyros australis |
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| Diospyros australis - juvenile | |
| Scientific classification | |
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Diospyros
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| Species: |
australis
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See text |
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Diospyros australis is a special plant, often called a black plum or yellow persimmon. It's part of a big family of trees and shrubs known as ebonies and persimmons. This plant is unique because it grows further south than any other plant in its group. You can find it in the rainforests along the eastern coast of Australia. It grows from Durras Lake near Batemans Bay in New South Wales all the way up to Atherton in tropical Queensland.
People often call Diospyros australis by names like black plum or yellow persimmon. Sometimes, it's mistakenly called "grey plum," but that name usually belongs to a different, related plant called D. pentamera.
Like many plants, Diospyros australis has had a few different scientific names over time.
What it Looks Like
This plant is an attractive small tree. It usually doesn't grow taller than 20 meters (about 65 feet). Its trunk is typically less than 25 centimeters (10 inches) wide. You can often spot it by its yellow-green leaves and shiny black berries.
The bottom of the tree trunk is usually smooth and round. Its bark is grey or black and can have wrinkles, bumps, and lines. The leaves are smooth and shaped like an oval or oblong. They are 4 to 10 centimeters (1.5 to 4 inches) long. The underside of the leaves is yellow or yellow-green, and you can see a clear yellow line down the middle. The leaf stalks are quite short, only 2 to 5 millimeters long.
Flowers and Fruit
The flowers of Diospyros australis appear between October and December. They are creamy green and have four petals. The female flowers are usually larger than the male flowers.
The fruit ripens from February to July. It's a shiny black berry, shaped like an oval, and measures 12 to 20 millimeters (about half an inch to three-quarters of an inch) long. At the bottom of the berry, there's a green cup-like structure called a calyx, which usually has four or five lobes. Each fruit contains a single seed. This seed is surrounded by a purple, edible part called an aril.
In the past, Indigenous people from the Illawarra area called this plant "Booreerra." They used its berries as a source of food.
If you want to grow this plant from fresh seeds, it might take a little while for them to sprout. However, most seeds should germinate after about three months. The edible berries from this plant are sometimes used in modern bushfood recipes.
See also
In Spanish: Diospyros australis para niños
