Diospyros discolor Diospyros discolor Diospyros discolor (commonly known as velvet apple, velvet persimmon or mabolo tree) is a tree of the genus "Diospyros" of ebony trees and persimmons. Its edible fruit has a skin covered in a fine, velvety fur which is usually reddish-brown, and soft, creamy, pink flesh, with a taste and aroma comparable to fruit cream cheese. It is native to the Philippines, where "kamagong" usually refers to the entire tree, and "mabolo" or "tálang" is applied to the fruit. It is a dioecious tropical tree that grows well in a diversity of soil, from the sea level to the
Diospyros "Zeus's wheat" but more generally intends "divine food" or "divine fruit". Muddled translations sometimes give rise to curious and inappropriate interpretations such as "God's pear" and "Jove's fire". The genus is a large one and the number of species has been estimated variously, depending on the date of the source. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, list has over 1000 entries, including synonyms and items of low confidence. Over 700 species are marked as being assigned with high confidence. The leaves of "Diospyros blancoi" have been shown to contain isoarborinol methyl ether (also called cylindrin) and fatty esters of α- and