Eboni. The Black Sweet.

He was tall and lanky, like fairy fashion on the catwalk. Pembawaanya shade. Some white flowers Decorate the upper part of his body. Her dark brown skin looks beautiful, sparkling in the sunlight exposure. Her presence seemed always anticipated by the general public. He was the idol of the heart ebony.

The author had met him several times and asked him to take pictures together. However, dear dear thousand, the ebony originating from ebenaceae familia is in fact not a girl. He is simply the name of a type of tree, favorite artists and creators of luxury furniture.

Figure 1. Stand ebony tree in the Garden (middle). Source: personal documentation.

Ebony Diospyros celebica or also known as ebony, Macassar ebony, Coromandel ebony, streaked ebony and black ebony, is a kind of wood production with features such as a layer cake, black and yellow are naturally found only in Sulawesi (endemic). Stems grow tall and straight with a height can reach 40 m. Rod underneath can reach diameters of 1 meter and are often equipped with board roots (buttresses) were great.

Figure 2. The bark is dark wood. Source: personal documentation.

Grooved bark, peel small brown and black. Pepagannya brown and the inside is white yellowish.

Figure 3. Leaves ebony. Source: personal documentation.

Single leaf, arranged alternate, elliptic elongated, with pointed tip, the top surface shiny, leathery and dark green, hairy beneath the surface of the green and gray. The upper surface of leaves are not hairy and dark green.


Figure 4. Leaf ebony (bottom side). Source: personal documentation.

The flowers are clustered in axillary, white. The fruit is oval, hairy and red colored yellow to brown when older. The flesh is whitish often eaten by monkeys, squirrels and bats; which thus acts as an agent pemencar seed. The fruit is oval, hairy and red colored yellow to brown when older. The seeds are shaped like an elongated wedge blackish brown.

Figure 5. Fruit ebony. Source: personal documentation.

This species can be found in primary forests on clay, sand or rocky soil that has good drainage, at an altitude of less than 400 m. Ebony also like topography hilly area with steep slopes.

Ebony produce very good quality wood. Dark brown wood color, black, or black striped reddish. Sapwood is white to pink and wooden porch black or brown vang black rows. This wood is very heavy, with a specific gravity of 0.76; class durability and strength is classified in class one. Ebony including heavy wood with a density exceeding water, so it can not float.

Figure 6. The texture of black wood is very beautiful. Source: Wikipedia Indonesia.
Eboni known to have a very slow growth. In its natural habitat, wood texture colored striped brown and yellow with motifs known to be very beautiful, will be formed after the tree reaches the age of about 60-80 years.

As a result of a very massive logging in the 1970s, this time with the tree population aged above 50 years are very rare. Along with more demand, the price of black wood is also becoming soar. Price per cubic meter of ebony best quality in the UK can reach tens of millions of rupiah.

Because the quality is very good, this wood including wood exports are very expensive and mempunvai many uses including for pole bridge, veneer of luxury, furniture, sculptures, carvings, home decoration, musical instruments (eg, guitar and piano), sticks and boxes jewelry.

In Indonesia, known as the ebony black wood. Other names are wood Itam, toetandu, sora, lotong wood, and wood maitong. Ebony is the identity of the flora of Central Sulawesi.