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Diospyros whyteana (Black-bark) An evergreen upright small tree or shrub to 9 to 16 feet tall with smooth, dark grey bark and reddish-brown stems holding the attractive alternate 1 to 1 1/2 inch long by 3/4 inch wide leathery oblong shaped leaves distichously in a parallel fashion. The leaves themselves are glossy dark green on the upper surface and dull green below with a slightly undulating ciliated margin and with new foliage bright green with a red margin. At various times of the year (often listed in winter and spring but for us often in fall too!) appear the small lightly fragrant bell shaped dioecious white flowers on stalks covered with fine white hairs. All our plants are from cuttings from a single female plant, which would develop dark red purple berries enclosed in a papery capsule if there was any male plants around to pollinate them.
Plant in full to part sun with occasional irrigation. We have had this plant weather light frost and temperatures around 29° F but it is listed as tender to frost. This is an attractive, compact and durable shrub that can allowed to grow tall as a small tree or can be trimmed as low as only 3 feet to make an excellent small to medium sized hedge plant and can also be trained as a bonsai plant.
Diospyros whyteana can be found naturally in forested areas, on mountain slopes and in rocky places. It has a wide distribution occurring in all the provinces in South Africa and stretching as far north as Ethiopia. The South African National Biodiversity Institute website says of this plant: "This enticing little tree has so many wonderful features: dark green, strikingly glossy leaves; creamy fragrant flowers; unusual smooth, dark grey, almost black bark and distinctive reddish brown, papery, balloon-like fruit pods. Altogether, it is a very attractive and pleasing garden subject." In older books this plant has been listed as Diospyros whytei and it has also been called Royena lucida, a name that seems to be more commonly used in Australia and New Zealand, where this plant has long been cultivated as an ornamental. The name for the genus comes from the Greek words 'dios' meaning "divine" and "pyros" for "fruit", "wheat" or "grain" and roughly translating as "divine pear". It is a large genus with the most common plants being ebony and persimmon. The specific epithet honors the Scottish plant explorer Alexander Whyte. Other common names include Bladder Nut and African Snowdrop Bush, Glossy Box and Fijian Box.
Our original plant came from Ganna Walska Lotusland Botanic Garden unidentified but it was later identified by John Bleck, who noted that he had given this plant Lotusland when managing the botany greenhouses at UCSB and had received seed of it through the Index Seminum program. There is also a nice plant on the edge of the Australian Garden at the Huntington Botanical Gardens accessioned as HBG 84618.
The information displayed on this page about Diospyros whyteana is based on the research we have conducted about it in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant have performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we have received from others and welcome hearing from anyone with information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.
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