Ping lan hua
Diospyros armata

Family: Ebenaceae

What it is like

A tree. It grows 5-13 m tall. It can lose all its leaves during the year. The small branches are hairy. There can be slender spines near the tip. The leaf blade is narrowly oval. They are 2-7 cm long by 2-3 cm wide. They are leathery. The base is wedge shaped. The fruit is a yellow, round berry about 2 cm across.

There are about 600 species of Diospyros mostly in the tropics. There are about 100 species in tropical America. The fruit of most species is edible.

Where it is found

It is a temperate plant. It grows in forests at about 300 m in Hubei, China. It can grow to hardiness zone 7. In Sichuan.

Countries/locations it is found in

Asia, China

How it is used for food

Edible parts

Fruit

How it is grown

In China trees flower from April to May and fruit from August to December.

Its other names

Local names

Synonyms

Diospyros armata var. pilosa Z. Y. Zhang; Diospyros pilosa (Z. Y. Zhang) C. S. Niu; Euclea pilosa Lour.;