166 
WRIGHT : THE GENUS DIOSPYROS 
690 mm. had a heartwood 440 mm. diameter. The heart- 
wood of such trees is invariably irregular in outline and 
presents a beautiful alternation of black and brown layers, 
which from an ornamental point of view greatly enhances 
the value of the timber ; such specimens are almost equal to 
calamander for ornamental purposes. The sapwood of 
large trees may possess irregular dark lines, which in 
longitudinal section give good patterns to the coloured 
timber. The coloured materials occur in all elements of 
the sapwood except the fibres. The contents of the paren¬ 
chyma cells is at first granular, but when these granules have 
disappeared the coloured contents take on the appearance of 
a gum-resin. In the heartwood all the elements, fibres 
included, become filled with brown or black contents, with 
or without a change in the colour of the walls of the 
elements. The only clear lines in a transverse section of 
the black heartwood are those of the medullary rays, the 
comparative clearness of this tissue being due to the thin¬ 
ness of their walls and the partial exhaustion of contents. 
Anatomically the timber is characterized by abundance of 
closely set fibres, and large tracheal elements, and a low per¬ 
centage number of medullary ray cells. The differentiation 
is very irregular. Rings of growth are very inconspicuous. 
The timber of this tree is rarely met with, and may in 
some cases furnish the bastard ebony of commerce. (See 
pi. IV., fig. 15.) 
Distribution rare in the dry and intermediate zones : 
Haragama, Uma-oya, Kurunegala, between Nalanda and 
Dam bulla, Maturata, Kalugalla, Mihintale. 
Also in Konkan and Babaloodun hills, Mysore. 
Diospyros quassifa, Thw. Enum.Ceyl. PI., p. 179., n. 7 
(1860). 
Kalumediriya, S., Calamander. 
Thw. Enum. 179. C.P. 3,010. Fl. B. Ind. III., 560. Bedd. 
Ic. PI. Ind. Or. Pt. VII., p. 26, t. 128 (1871). Hiern, Mon- 
Eben. 174. 
