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Black beauty
‘This tall, sombre tree with its dark trunk, dark crown, dark branches, twigs, leaves and even rootlets, used to be looked on as a “sinister tree which was never seen exposed to the sun”’ (in Dambulla: A Sanctuary of Tropical Trees by Sam Popham). This dark tree is of course, none other than the Ebony, famed around the world for its fine timber, and seen at its best in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. It rarely grows at altitudes above 500 feet. It is a tall tree growing upto 30m with a much buttressed trunk. The tree can best be identified by its black, scaly bark which peels off in rectangular pieces.

The Ebony has dark green shiny leaves, oblong in shape and with very clear venation. The flowers are yellowish white and small, very often not being easily apparent. The flowering season is in March. The fruit of this tree is small (about ¾ of an inch) and is in the form of a woody, green cup. This fruit is said to have medicinal properties and has also been used as a fish poison.

The tree is best known for its valuable timber which has been used around the world to make beautiful black furniture. Unfortunately as with so many other valuable species, this very fame has caused it to be exploited to near extinction and it is now a rarity in the forests of this country. Many other timbers are often passed off as Ebony but as Popham writes “the only genuine ebony is Diospyros ebenum, but the trade gives the famous tag to many black woods and permits pretenders (timbers dyed black) to masquerade as ebony” (in Dambulla: A Sanctuary of Tropical Trees).

The wood of the Ebony is jet black and beats all others in the evenness and intensity of its dark colour (Handbook for the Ceylon Traveller by Studio Times). This wood has also been used to make opium pipes. The Ebony is appropriately named Kaluwara in Sinhala and Karunkali in Tamil. The botanical name is Diospyros ebenum. It is indigenous to Sri Lanka, South India and Malaysia.

Look out for it throughout the dry zone. Fine specimens can be seen at the IFS-Popham Arboretum in Dambulla.

Compiled by: Ruk Rakaganno, The Tree Society of Sri Lanka.

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