Changes

*''Maba abyssinica'' Hiern (1873).

*Black bark, giant diospyros (En). *Mueluili, mdaa-mwitu (Sw).

*Evergreen, dioecious, small to fairly large tree up to 35(–40) m tall; bole branchless for up to 18 m, straight and slender, up to 60(–75) cm in diameter, often with small buttresses; bark surface smooth in young trees, later becoming rough and scaling off in strips or oblong plates, grey to dark green, dark brown or black, inner bark thin, fibrous, yellow-brown, darkening upon exposure; crown often small and narrow, with branches at right angles to main stem; twigs pendulous and usually glabrous. *Leaves alternate, simple and entire; stipules absent; petiole 4–8 mm long; blade elliptical to oblong-elliptical, 3–15.5 cm × 1–5.5 cm, cuneate to rounded at base, obtuse to slightly acuminate at apex, thinly leathery, shining, nearly glabrous, pinnately veined with 5–12 pairs of lateral veins. *Inflorescence in axils of leaves or on older branchlets, in male trees a 10–18-flowered contracted cyme, in female trees a (1–)3–5(–8)-flowered fascicle. *Flowers unisexual, regular, 3–4-merous, creamy white to yellowish, scented; pedicel 1–2 mm long; male flowers with cup-shaped calyx c. 2 mm long, corolla 5–6 mm long, deeply lobed with lobes broadly elliptical, stamens 10–15, 2–4 mm long, ovary rudimentary; female flowers with cup-shaped calyx c. 6 mm long, divided nearly to the base, corolla similar to that of male flowers, rudimentary stamens 3–4, ovary superior, conical, c. 4 mm long, 6-celled, style short. *Fruit an ellipsoid to nearly globose berry 8–14 mm × 8–9 mm, glabrous, yellow to orange, with persistent calyx at basis and style at apex, 1(–2) seeded. *Seed globose to ellipsoid, c. 9 mm × 6 mm, with smooth endosperm.

{{right|(E.E. Mwakalukwa, P. Baas & H. Beeckman)}}

* E.A. Obeng , Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), University P.O. Box 63, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana

Obeng, E.A., 2010. '''Diospyros abyssinica''' (Hiern) F.White. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Lemmens, R.H.M.J., Louppe, D. & Oteng-Amoako, A.A. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>.