Diospyros thus avoided by most herbivores; when ripe they are eagerly eaten by many animals however, such as the rare Aders' duiker ("Cephalophus adersi"). The foliage is used as food by the larvae of numerous Lepidoptera species: Arctiidae: Geometridae: Limacodidae: Lycaenidae: Nymphalidae: Saturniidae: Tortricidae: An economically significant plant pathogen infecting many "Diospyros" species – "D. hispida", kaki persimmon ("D. kaki"), date-plum ("D. lotus"), Texas persimmon ("D. texana"), Coromandel ebony ("D. melanoxylon") and probably others – is the sac fungus "Pseudocercospora kaki", which causes a leaf spot disease. The genus includes several plants of commercial importance, either for their edible fruit (persimmons)
Wildlife of Mauritius heathland in the mountains. Most of this natural vegetation has been destroyed and what remains is threatened by the spread of introduced plants. Native trees include eleven surviving species of Mauritius ebony ("Diospyros tesselaria", "Diospyros egrettarum", "Diospyros revaughanii", "Diospyros melanida", "Diospyros leucomelas" and several others), takamaka ("Calophyllum tacamahaca"), manglier vert ("Sideroxylon cinereum"), manglier rouge ("Sideroxylon puberulum"), Ox tree ("Polyscias maraisiana"), Bois de Natte ("Labourdonnaisia" species) and a range of other indigenous and endemic tree species. The palm species that are indigenous to the island of Mauritius comprise "Acanthophoenix rubra" (possibly other species), "Dictyosperma album (var. album & conjugatum)", "Hyophorbe amaricaulis",