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Nomenclature etc. EBENACEAE. Diospyros celebica, D. discolor, D. insularis, D. kurzii, D. marmorata etc. Trade and local names: D. celebica: Coromandel (NL); Macassar ebony (GB, trade); Makassar Ebenholz (DE); kayu hitam, batuline, maitem, gongo moitomo (ID) -- D. discolor: kamagong (PH). D. insularis: New Guinea ebony (PG, trade) -- D. kurzii, D. marmorata: Andaman marblewood, zebrawood (GB, trade). Not protected under CITES regulations.
Tree. Geographic distribution: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indomalesia.
General. Heartwood basically brown and black; with streaks. Sapwood colour distinct from heartwood colour. Density 0.85–1.05 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 100–160 µm. Average number of vessels/mm² 9–32. Average vessel element length 900–1500 µm. Perforation plates simple. Intervessel pits alternate, average diameter (vertical) 2–10 µm (D. kurzii + D. marmorata: 2–4 µm; D. discolor, D. insularis: 5–6 µm; Diospyros celebica: 7–10 µm). Vessel-ray pits with distinct borders, similar to intervessel pits. Helical thickenings absent. Other deposits present (black and 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 (marginal?). 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 or mostly 2–4 marginal rows of upright or square cells.
Mineral inclusions. Crystals present, prismatic, located in ray cells or axial parenchyma cells (see commentary below). Crystal-containing ray cells upright and/or square or procumbent, upright and/or square ray cells chambered or not chambered. Crystal-containing axial parenchyma cells chambered, or not chambered. Number of crystals per cell or chamber one. In the three species Diospyros celebica, D. discolor and D. insularis prismatic crystals occur in non-chambered cells, primarily in wood rays, more rarely in axial parenchyma. In D. kurzii and D. marmorata the prismatic crystals occur mostly in chambered cells, predominantly in axial parenchyma and less frequently in rays. Silica not observed.
Physical and chemical tests. Heartwood not fluorescent. Water extract not fluorescent; colour of water extract colourless to brown. Heartwood extractives leachable when in contact with water. Ethanol extract fluorescent (dark green). Colour of ethanol extract colourless to brown. Froth test positive. Splinter burns to full ash. Ash bright white.
Illustrations. • Macroscopic images. transverse (ca. 10x). radial (natural size). • Transverse section. Diospyros celebica. • Tangential section. Diospyros celebica. • Radial section. Diospyros celebica.
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’.
