Ebenaceae FAMILY

Diospyros chamaethamnus

Edibility

2/5

Medicinal

0/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitShrub

Growth—

The plant has adapted to grow in areas where bush fires are common - sometimes every year - and it produces semi-woody rather than fully woody stems. These are often burnt down at the end of their first year's growth and so the plant produces a new flush of unbranched stems up to 30cm tall each year. If they are not burned down, then the stems increase in height to 45cm or more in their second year, when they sometimes also produce some side branches^[1]. A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required^[2].

Propagation

Seed - in general the seed of Diospyros species has a very short viability and so should be sown as soon as possible. The flesh should be removed since this contains germination inhibitors. Sow the seed in a shady position in a nursery seedbed. The sowing media for ebony uses soil and fine sand at the ratio 3:1. The seed is planted horizontally or vertically with the radicle end down, with a sowing depth of 1 - 1½ times the thickness of seed. Distance between the seeds is 3 - 5cm. Seeds are very sensitive to desiccation during germination and early growth, so must be regularly watered at this time. Normally the seed will germinate after one week^[3]. As a rule fresh seeds have a high percentage of fertility. The seedlings develop long taproots at an early stage, often before any appreciable elongation of the shoot takes place. The growth of the seedling is decidedly slow ^[4]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Diospyros+chamaethamnus>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

[1]Flora Zambesiaca — http://apps.kew.org/efloras/fz/intro.html ↩︎An excellent online flora of plants from the Zambezi River basin. It lists a number of the plant uses as well as the habitats and botanical descriptions of the plants.
[2]Flora of Southern Africa — Roux J.P. · 2003 · http://plants.jstor.org/search?st=662545 ↩︎An excellent on-line resource.
[3]Seed Leaflets — Various · Forest & Landscape. Denmark · http://en.sl.life.ku.dk/Publikationer/Udgivelser/PopulaerPublikationer.aspx?katid={D28373CC-6EF3-4EF8-B097-6D83FABF209E}&serieid={9F1C3DB1-6E7B-4CF1-AF53-F480B0CB40EF}&sort=title ↩︎A series of leaflets, jointly produced by the University of Copenhagen and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, focussing on seed information for a number species, but also giving a lot of other information about each plant.
[4]The Silviculture of Indian Trees — Troup. R.S. · Oxford, at the Clarendon Press · 1921 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎An excellent treatment.
[5]Gemsbok Bean and Kalahari Truffle — Leffers A. · Gamsberg MacMillan; Namibia. · 2003 · ISBN 99916-0-491-X ↩︎Details of the traditional uses of over 200 species of plants in northeastern Namibia. Written for the non-expert, there is usually at least one photograph with each plant entry.
[6]Lost Crops of Africa. Vol. 3 Fruits. — National Academy Press · 2008 · ISBN 030910596X ↩︎Masses of information on about 70 species of plants that have been utilized as fruits in Africa.