46 
WRIGHT : THE GENUS DIOSPYROS 
obtained from the genus Diospyros, but from a leguminous 
species, called Fornasinia ebenifera, Bertol. The natural 
order Leguminosæ 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 D. 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to the timber, and the tube can be easily withdrawn and the 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 
r Trimen. Flora, Yol. III., p. 95. 
f J. Burmann, Thesaurus Zeylanicus, 1647. 
+ Grimm, Laboratorium Ceylanicum, 1679. 
§ G. E. Rumphius, Herbarium Amboiuense. 1750. 
