Macassar Ebony
BOTANICAL NAME
Diospyros melanoxylon, Diospyrus celebica of the family Ebenaceae
COMMON NAMES
East Indian Ebony, Indian Ebony, Coromandel, Camagon, Golden Ebony, Tendu, Temru, Timbruni, Tunki. Sometimes called African Ebony even though that name really should be reserved for "true" ebony. Also called Black Ebony which is also a name that should be reserved for "true" ebony.
NOTE: there are a number of Diospyros species that are labled macassar ebony and/or east indian ebony, and some reports distinguish among them. At some point I will go back and do more research on this but for now I am providing data as though there were only two types of ebony, "gaboon" and "macassar". Knowledgeable people from the International Wood Collector's Society can feel free to call me vile names.
TYPE
Hardwood
COLOR
Highly variable in color and grain contrast. Dark brown with black stripes to mostly black with slightly lighter brown or even salmon colored stripes. Some pieces are light chocolate brown with fairly widely spaced black streaks; others are almost pure black with only some showing of a dark brown background. Sapwood is light gray. This is not what most people think of when they think of ebony since it is usually nowhere near being pure black. It can be a very attractive wood due to the striking alternation of black and brown or it can be more murky when the brown is nearly black and the distinction between black and brown is fuzzy. Although it would be impossible to confuse with Zebrawood, it sometimes looks more like a zebra than does Zebrawood in the sense that the darker portions are thicker and darker and the contrast can be more striking between dark and light streaks.
At first a piece may appear totally black but if it contains slightly lighter streaks, they will, with time, become more pronounced and ruin the pure black color. Well selected pieces can be solid black and will STAY solid black.
TREE
10 to 20 meters high: logs are usually small and defective
GRAIN
Mostly straight, but may sometimes be irregular or wavy
TEXTURE
Fine and even