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Diospyros whyteana
Also called African Bladder Nut, Black Bark, Bladdernut Starapple, Bowtree, Forest Monkey Plum
Bladder nut is a small African tree of the ebony family, grown for its glossy dark green leaves, fragrant cream flowers and small red fruit. Grow it in sun or shade, where it stays a tidy shape, and it tolerates drought once established.
Diospyros whyteana (also known as the bladdernut, swartbas, wild coffee or umTenatane) is a small African tree of the ebony family. Bearing dark green, strikingly glossy leaves and creamy fragrant flowers, it is increasingly cultivated in Southern African gardens as an attractive and strong ornamental tree. It can attain a height of up to 6 m.
This decorative little tree is excellent for gardens, with its tidy shape, dark glossy leaves and small red fruits, which start developing from about August to November. If planted alone it makes a good "accent plant" (especially in small gardens). However, it also makes a very good hedge, as it has lush, dense foliage and responds particularly well to clipping. Lastly, it can be grown as a container plant (It is even used as a bonsai specimen). Diospyros can be grown in the sun as well as in the shade, although it grows taller and thinner in the shade. Once established, it is also relatively drought-resistant.
It has sweetly scented flowers, and attracts birds to the garden.
The Bladdernut has a wide distribution, occurring from Cape Town in the south to Tanzania's Eastern Arc Mountains in the north, ranging through South Africa, Eswatini, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi, and Tanzania. It naturally grows in Afro-montane forest and on rocky mountain slopes.
Mabolo · Diospyros buxifolia · Diospyros diepenhorstii · Ebony · Diospyros egrettarum · Diospyros ferrea · Australian Ebony · Japanese persimmon · Date-plum · Indian Persimmon · Tendu · Black sapote
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Diospyros whyteana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
