BLACK EBONY 



but the wood is undoubtedly a Diospyros from its structure. It 

 resembles the specimen in Museum No. i, Kew, labelled D. 

 Ebenus, but not that labelled D. Ebenaster. 



No. 133. BLACK EBONY. Diospyros Dendo. 

 Welw. (131) 

 Plate X. Fig. 85. 



Natural Order. Ebenaceae. 



Alternative Names. Billet-wood Ebony, Gaboon, Lagos, 

 Calabar Ebony or Niger Ebony. These are trade names for 

 different varieties, which are all evidently of the same species. 



Source of Supply. Tropical West Africa. 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 72^ lbs. per 

 cu. ft. Hardness Grade 1, the hardest next below Lignum 

 Vitse, but without its flinty character. Smell or taste none. 

 Burns like coal, difficult to ignite, much crackling : the flame 

 soon passes off, but the embers glow in still air. Solution with 

 water yellowish-brown : requires caustic potash to extract the 

 black pigment. 



Grain. Rather fine : open or close, according to the presence 

 or absence of black resin. Surface of the ground-tissue bright : 

 pores dull when empty, reflecting when filled : rays of a coaly 

 lustre : cold to the touch. 



Bark. ? 



Uses, etc. Turnery, inlaying, and all purposes where the 

 colour is of value and where small size is no disadvantage. 

 Usually met with in the form of small billets, made by splitting 

 the heart- wood of the tree into 5 or 6 sectors. 



Colour. Heart-wood black or black with brown streaks well 

 defined from the brownish-white sap-wood. 



Authorities. Wiesner (131), L. 12, p. 986. 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : — 



Pores. Just visible in the solid black wood (after moisten- 

 ing) by their reflection : size 4, rather fine, little variation : 

 scattered but collected rather more in some zones than in 

 others : few 2-9 or even fewer per sq. mm. : in compact radial 

 groups of 1-4 or occasionally 11 pores : contents black and some 

 few red. 



Rays. Difficult to see even with micro. : very fine, size 6, 

 uniform : evenly distributed, equidistant, running close round 

 the pores : otherwise direct and more than a pore-width apart : 

 16-18 per mm. 



Rings. Doubtful or rarely any contrast in colour except in 

 Niger Ebony. 



Soft-tissue. In fine, concentric lines, waved and rare : some- 



153 



