4ti WRIGHT : THE GENUS DIOSPYROS 



obtained from the genus Diospyros, but from a leguminous 

 species, called Fornasinia ebenifera, Bertol. The natural 

 order Leguminosse has long been known to yield variously 

 coloured timbers, and in some countries the respective 

 species furnish a marketable ebony, e.g., Dalbergia Mela- 

 noxylon, G. and P., the ebony of tropical Africa, and Brya 

 Ebenus, DC., the Jamaica ebony. 



In Ceylon, however, the ebony of export is obtained 

 exclusively from species of Diospyros, and mainly from the 

 trunks of IX Ebenum. This ebony has been known from 

 distant times, and some botanists believe that the ebony 

 mentioned in the Bible was obtained from this Island. 



According to Trimen* the tree was not known to 

 Hermann, and only the timber of it to Burmann,f who 

 quotes from GrimmJ as to its medicinal virtues. 



Rumph states that ebony trees are abundant about 

 " Trinkenemale," and Trimen believed this to be the earliest 

 record of our most important ebony -yielding trees in Ceylon. 



The ebony is obtained by felling the tree and stripping 

 off the peripheral sapwood. It is usual to fell all those 

 trees which have attained or exceeded a breast-height cir- 

 cumference of 2 metres (6 feet), providing the preliminary 

 examination indicates the existence of a good proportion 

 of solid black heartwood. The preliminary examination 

 usually consists of making an incision and determining 

 the extent to which the discolouration has proceeded ; in 

 some cases an apparatus known as Pressler's increment borer 

 is used, as by this means only the minimum damage is done 

 to the timber, and the tube can be easily withdrawn and the 

 cylinder of wood extracted from the stem. In Ceylon 

 the felling of the ebony trees is carried out on definite 

 principles, each officer clearing only those trees which have 



* Trimen, Flora, Vol. III., p. 95. 



f J. Burmann, Thesaurus Zeylanicus, 1647. 



J Grimm. Laboratorium Ceylanicum, 1679. 



G-. B. Rumphius, Herbarium Amboinense. 1 750. 



