Macassar ebony 



water olive-brown : afterwards with alcohol more olive than 

 brown, somewhat of a citron colour while it is being heated. 



Grain. Fine, close, even and dense. Surface bright, lustrous 

 when cleft. 



Bark. ? 



Colour. Brown streaked with black, sometimes of a greenish 

 cast. Sap-wood sharply defined from the heart- wood ; brown. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : — 



Pores. Need lens but just visible by reflection in the black 

 bands after moistening : size 2 ; groups scattered uniformly, 

 scarcely any indication of zones : considerable variation : from 

 0-10 per sq. mm. in radially-disposed groups of 1-5 pores : 

 black in the lighter bands. 



Rays. Difficult to see even with lens : size 5 to 6, uniform : 

 equidistant but apparently irregularly spaced : very numerous, 

 8 to 22 per mm. the attenuated ends occur in numbers together 

 at intervals and avoid the pores : a pore-width or less apart, 

 slightly lighter in colour than the ground, but of the same tint. 



Rings. Doubtful or very obscure : the zones of colour are quite 

 independent of the structure : contour scarcely to be spoken of. 



Soft-tissue. Fine concentric lines, often interrupted and re- 

 duced to bars between the rays : size 6 or about that of the 

 rays : visible in intense light with lens in the solid wood in the 

 light wood only : coarsely cellular in transparent section as single 

 rows of cells, each cell rather widely separated from the next. 



Radial Section. Pores, visible as fine, dark lines, more or less 

 filled with black resin in grains. Rays, readily visible when cleft 

 as small, shining, crystalline flakes without contrast of colour. 

 Rings, doubtful. 



Tangential Section. As the Radial, but the rays are perceptible 

 in the solid wood with lens only when moistened : they appear as 

 fine darker lines about 0*25 mm. high. 



Type specimen bears the label of the Madagascar (Sumbawa 

 and Antalha) Forests Syndicate, Limited : not authenticated. 

 As the rays of this wood are not red I conclude that the Mada- 

 gascar Ebony described by Wiesner (131), L. 12, p. 989, as being 

 derived from D. haplostylis Boiv. and D. microrhombus. Hiern. 

 is another species. 



No. 132. MACASSAR EBONY. Diospyros sp. 

 (probably D. Ebenus). 

 Plate X. Fig. 85. 

 Natural Order. Ebenaceae. 



Sources of Supply. India, Burmah, Straits Settlements, Malay 

 Archipelago, and the West Indies. 



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