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| Commercial timbers |
Nomenclature etc. EBENACEAE. Afrika: Diospyros crassiflora, etc.; Madagaskar: D. perrieri, etc. Trade and local names: African ebony (GB, trade); afrikanisches Ebenholz (DE); ebène d'Afrique (FR, BE); ébano (PT, ES); abokpo, kanran, nyareti, osibin (NG); mevini, mavini, ndou (CM); evila (GA); ngoubou, bingo (CD) -- D. perrieri: Madagaskar Ebenholz (DE); hazozoby, lepinga (MG), mapingo (RE). Not protected under CITES regulations, or listed in CITES Annex II (all species native to Madagascar).
Tree. Geographic distribution: tropical Africa, Madagascar & other islands.
General. Heartwood basically brown, black; with streaks or without streaks. Sapwood colour distinct from heartwood colour. Density 0.8–1 g/cm³.
Vessels. Wood diffuse porous. Vessels in multiples, commonly in short (2–3 vessels) radial rows or in radial rows of 4 or more. Average tangential vessel diameter 80–120 µm. Average number of vessels/mm² 8–14. Perforation plates simple. Intervessel pits alternate, average diameter (vertical) 3–5 µm. Vessel-ray pits with distinct borders, similar to intervessel pits. Other deposits present (black, some reddish-brown).
Tracheids and fibres. Fibres very thick-walled. Fibre pits common in both radial and tangential walls, distinctly bordered.
Axial parenchyma. Axial parenchyma banded. Axial parenchyma bands forming a reticulate pattern with rays. Bands fine. Bands predominantly uniseriate, some possibly indicating growth boundaries. Axial parenchyma apotracheal, or paratracheal. Apotracheal axial parenchyma diffuse, or diffuse-in-aggregates. Paratracheal axial parenchyma scanty, or vasicentric. Axial parenchyma as strands. Average number of cells per strand: 4–8.
Rays. Rays 15–20 per tangential mm, exclusively uniseriate (sporadically also biseriate rays). Height of large rays up to 500 µm. Rays composed of two or more cell types (heterocellular). Heterocellular rays with square and upright cells restricted to marginal rows, mostly 1 marginal row of upright or square cells to with more than 4 marginal rows of upright or square cells.
Storied structures. Storied structure present (Diospyros sakalavarum) or absent, all rays storied. Arrangement of tiers regular, or irregular. Number of ray tiers per axial millimetre 3.
Mineral inclusions. Crystals present, prismatic, located in axial parenchyma cells. Crystal-containing axial parenchyma cells chambered. Number of crystals per cell or chamber one. Silica not observed.
Physical and chemical tests. Heartwood not fluorescent. Heartwood extractives leachable when in contact with water (for example: Diospyros aculeata), or not leachable by water (for example: Diospyros lanceolata). Froth test negative.
Illustrations. • Macroscopic images. transverse (ca. 10x). tangential (natural size). • Transverse section. Diospyros sp. • Tangential section. Diospyros sp. • Radial section. Diospyros sp. • Crystals. Diospyros crassiflora. prismatic crystals exclusively in axial parenchyma.
The interactive key allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting specified attributes, summaries of attributes within groups of taxa, and geographical distribution.
Cite this publication as: ‘Richter, H.G., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2000 onwards. Commercial timbers: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. In English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Version: 9th April 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
