Diospyros ebenum Seeds | Ebony

Black ebony heartwood against pale sapwood in a squared billet — Ebony (*Diospyros ebenum*): Ebenaceae, Sri Lanka and southern India.

LATIN NAME: Diospyros ebenum

COMMON NAME: Ebony, Indian Ebony

Plant Profile

Ceylon ebony is the tree that gave the word ebony its meaning: a slow-growing evergreen of twenty metres whose heartwood is black, dense enough to sink and fine enough to take a polish like glass. The sapwood is pale yellow, sharply distinct, and the contrast is the reason the wood was used for inlay as much as for solid work. The species is dioecious, with small white flowers and round fruits, and it is now rare in the wild across Sri Lanka and southern India. The crown is dense and dark, and a mature tree is difficult to see into. The leaves are oval, leathery and dark, and they are held on short stalks in two ranks.

Science & Biotechnology

Diospyros ebenum is one of the few trees whose heartwood is genuinely black rather than dark brown, the colour coming from dense deposits that also give it its weight and its resonance. The genus is chemically notable for diospyrin and other naphthoquinones with antimicrobial and antitumour activity, and for the tannins that make unripe persimmons astringent. Ebony has been the subject of wood-anatomy work because the trade in substituted species, D. melanoxylon and D. dendo in particular, is difficult to police without microscopy. The species is listed as threatened in Sri Lanka, and most commercial ebony now comes from other Diospyros. Ebony also has a long record in Chinese and Indian medicine, where the bark and fruit were used as astringents, and the wood was ground for eye preparations in some traditions.

Uses & Benefits

The wood has been used for piano keys, chess pieces, knife scales, turned work, inlay and cabinetry for four centuries, and the best material is now scarce and expensive enough that most commercial ebony is a substitute. The fruit is edible but poor. In the garden, the tree is a slow, dark-leaved evergreen for a warm climate, grown as a specimen and for its dense shade, and it is worth planting precisely because the wild supply cannot meet demand. The bark and unripe fruit have a local tanning and astringent use. The tree is also grown as a hedge in Sri Lanka, where its dense crown and tolerance of clipping make it a serviceable screen.

Growing from Seed

Sow fresh seed, cleaned of pulp, in a moist, open mix at twenty-five to thirty degrees; germination is slow and uneven, often over two to three months. The seedling is extremely slow and needs dappled shade for its first year, then full sun. Keep it in a deep pot until the root system is established, and plant out into free-draining soil. Do not expect timber in a human lifetime, and do not expect the tree to tolerate frost or waterlogging at any stage. It also dislikes root disturbance, so germinate it in a deep tube and slide the whole root ball out at planting.

Our Take

The original ebony, a slow black-hearted tree that no garden will ever grow for timber, and a fine specimen for a warm climate. Plant it for shade and for the record.

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