Diospyros confertiflora (Hiern.) Bakh., Gard. Bull. S. S. 7 (1933)

Latin for 'with crowded flowers'.

Synonym
 Ebenus confertiflora (Hiern) Kuntze
Maba confertiflora Hiern.
Maba perakensis King & Gamble

Diagnostics
 Understorey tree up to 20 m tall and 39 cm dbh. Stipules absent. Leaves alternate, simple, penni-veined, but secondary venation inconspicuous, glabrous. Flowers ca. 3 mm in diameter, white, with corolla tube, placed in small bundles in leaf axil. Fruit ca. 18 mm long, curved, yellow-orange, fleshy berry.

Description
 Tree to 20 m tall and 39 cm diameter. Twigs glabrous or bearing short (less than 0.1 cm) hairs, tending to dry black. Leaves membranaceous to chartaceous, glabrous, or bearing short (less than 0.1 cm long) hairs, tending to dry black above and sometimes on both sides; lanceolate or oblong, parallel-sided except where the blade tapered to base and apex, 2.5-9 x 1-5 cm, base cuneate to rounded, apex acuminate; midrib sunken above but groove sometimes filled with small hairs; lateral veins prominulous, c. 6 pairs, arching and diminishing toward leaf margin; intercostal venation invisible; petiole 0.2-0.5 cm long. Male inflorescences 0.1-0.4 cm long, each bearing 3-12 tiny flowers. Male flowers with calyx c. 0.1 cm long, divided into 3 triangular valvate lobes; corolla ellipsoid to oblong in bud, 0.2-0.4 cm long. Female inflorescences 0.2-0.3 cm long, each bearing 1-3 flowers. Female flowers with calyx divided into 3 imbricate lobes. Fruits solitary, on 0.2-0.3 cm long stalks, ovoid but markedly asymmetric, with one side more strongly curved than the other, so that the pointed apex is shifted off-centre, to 2.2 กม 1.3 cm, smooth and glabrous. Fruit calyx leafy coriaceous; lobes c. 0.5 x 0.5 cm, completely reflexed backwards. [from Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak]

Ecology
 In undisturbed and secondary forests, including keranga forest, up to 600 m altitude. Mostly on alluvial sites, but also on hillsides and ridges with sandy soils.

Distribution
 Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo.

Local names
 Borneo: Kayu malam, Kayu malam pinang.