Diospyros kusanoi Hayata; D. liukiuensis Makino.

Trees 3--12 m tall, evergreen. Young shoots yellowish brown, glabrous. Winter buds sericeous. Petiole ca. 1 cm; leaf blade oblong-elliptic to lanceolate-oblong, 7--17 X 3--8 cm, leathery, glabrous except sometimes for pubescent abaxial surface when young, ± concolorous, base obtuse to somewhat attenuate and with 2(--4) gland patches near petiole, apex obtusely acuminate, lateral veins ca. 7 per side, reticulate veinlets slender and inconspicuous. Inflorescences bracteate at base. Male flowers in 2- or 3-flowered cymes; pedicels short and thick; calyx ca. 3.5 mm, densely sericeous throughout; calyx lobes 4, triangular, slightly longer than tube; corolla urn-shaped, ca. 1.6 cm; corolla tube ca. 9 mm, outside densely appressed hairy; corolla lobes 3 or 4, oblong, ca. 7 X 4 mm, outside with right half densely sericeous, otherwise subglabrous, apex rounded; stamens 16; filaments hirsute; pistillode hirsute. Female flowers solitary, sessile; calyx lobes 4, both surfaces sericeous; corolla outside sericeous, inside glabrous; staminodes present; ovary 8-locular, rusty hairy. Fruiting calyx ca. 2 cm in diam.; lobes 4, poorly defined, reflexed. Berries orange-colored, depressed globose, 1.5--3 cm in diam., 8-locular, glabrous when ripe except for base of style.

The fruit and bark contain an anesthetic substance. The wood is used for furniture and rifle butts.

Usually scattered in thickets along seashore. N Taiwan, Yunnan [Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Vietnam; SE Asia, Australia, Pacific Islands].