Traditional uses and benefits of Ebony

Plant Description

Ebony is a slow-growing, medium-sized, evergreen tree with a dense, gloomy crown. It can grow up to 20–25 meters (65–80 ft) tall. The straight bole can be 90 cm in diameter, with buttresses that are up to 2 meters high. The plant is found growing in humid, coastal, lowland forests and dry evergreen forests. Seedlings of D. ebenum have a very long taproot, which often tears while transplanting seedlings. Large pots/plastic bags have to be used for raising the seedlings as the roots easily penetrate through the plastic bags into the soil. Care has to be taken that the seedlings are shifted in time, to avoid damage to the seedling while taking the pots out of the seedling bed as the root often grows deep into the soil. The available literature does not provide any information on the rooting habit of mature trees, but it can be assumed that the trees develop a deep taproot.

Bark

The young bark is smooth, green to dark grey, some-times almost black. It tends to darken with age and crack longitudinally. These cracks lead to a rough longitudinal structure with rectangular pieces in a younger stage of the tree development and scales at a more advanced stage, which fall off eventually.

Buds

Flowers and shoot buds are found in the leaf axils. Buds of the male flowers are clustered in short cymes. Howard and Norlindh observed densely pubescent young buds and less pubescent older buds on the specimens collected by Koenig during his trips to Ceylon; however, no flora guide known to the author makes this observation.

Leaves

The leaves are alternate, ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 6–15 centimeters (2.5–6 in) long and 3–5 centimeters (1–2 in) wide, thinly coriaceous, glabrous with a rounded to acute base. The apex is (sub) acute to obtuse and the veins are minutely reticulate, raised and conspicuous on both surfaces, while the mid-vein is clearly visible. The petiole is up to 0.5 cm long. Fresh leaves are bright green and shiny.

Young Shoots

Young light-green shoots arise from the axillary buds and have fine soft hairs on the surface at the earliest stage of development.

Flowers

The species is dioecious. Male flowers: 3–16 flowers appear as short axillary cymes, the peduncle is up to 0.5 cm long and the pedicles reach a length of up to 3 mm. The calyx is cupular, 3.5 mm long and 3 mm wide, glabrous and the 4 lobes are obscure, ciliate, and obtuse. The corolla is tubular to salver formed, up to 1cm across and up to 7 mm long; the 4 lobes are ovate-oblong, 6 mm long and acute. The flowers have 6–12 stamens in uneven groups while the filaments are 1.5–3.5 mm in length and the anthers are linear and up to 4 mm long; the connetives are crested and apiculate; the pistillode is linear and up to 2 mm long.

Female flowers arise from the leaf axils but are solitary with a pedicle up to 3 mm long. The calyx has 4 lobes, which are 4 mm long, ovate, shortly united, (sub) acute and spreading. The corolla is cream colored, tubular, 3 mm across with a tube of 6 mm long and 4 acute lobes, each 6 mm. The ovary is glabose, 4.5 mm long and 4 mm wide with 4 styles and capitellate stigmas; 6–12 staminodes.

Fruits

Fertile flowers are followed by globose berries with a short, apical break, measuring 1.5–2 cm across. The calyx forms a shallow wooden cup and is reflexed. Each fruit consists of 3–6 seeds. When old, the fruit dries and turns grey.

Seeds

Seeds are black, 10–13 mm long and 2–5 mm wide at the back, tapering at the front to 0–1 mm. According to Orwa et al., 1 kg of seed consists of around 9000 seeds, while Jean Pouyet counted 5000 seeds/kg.

Wood

A clear distinction can be observed between the sapwood and heartwood of the species, although the relative proportions of both vary greatly. The proportion of heart-wood in the trunk declines with increasing soil quality. The trunks of individuals growing on deep soil have 14–35 % heartwood while data for rocky soil are not available. The light coloured, soft sapwood is not of much use. D. ebenum is the only species that produces entirely black heartwood, but the process of pigmentation is slow and irregular. Howard and Norlindh mention that, during his visit, Koenig was shown by a local forester how the status of pigmentation was checked by drilling through the sapwood into the heartwood.

Traditional uses and benefits of Ebony

• Edible fruits have medicinal properties as attenuant and lithontripic.
• Pounded bark and leaves are used as a blistering plaster in Philippines.
• In Yucatan, decoction of leaves is used for fevers.
• It is used as remedy for leprosy, ringworm and for itching.
• In Tamil Nadu, stem bark is used for cough, asthma, and diabetes.
• In Bangladesh, bark is used for cuts and wounds to stop bleeding.
• Bark decoction taken every morning for treatment of diabetes.
• In Tamil Nadu, crushed leaves are applied to the face to reduce blisters.
• In the Rodrigues Island, Indian Ocean, infusion of grated bark twice weekly for treatment of diabetes.
• Paste of whole plant applied to skin diseases and for wound healing.
• It is an important Unani drug for eye diseases.
• Root of some ebony trees can be used in treatment of dysentery, intestinal parasites, leprosy and fever.

Ayurvedic Health benefits of Ebony

• Aphthous Ulcers: Grind dried Ebony Fruits. Put 2 teaspoons powder in one glass of lukewarm powder. Swish with this water twice a day.
• Diarrhea: Take Ebony seeds oil. Put half teaspoon in one glass of milk. Drink it.
• Dysentery: Take out the pulp of Ebony fruit. Heat. Have 2 tablespoons.
• Cuts: Squeeze the juice of Ebony fruit. Apply it on the affected part thrice a day.

Culinary Uses

• Edible fruits are eaten only in times of famine.
• In the Philippines, fruit is eaten in milk, cooked in pies (with lemon to counteract its mawkishness), or made into ice-cream.
• Gummy astringent fruit is eaten in times of scarcity.
• Fruit of Gabon ebony is used in the industry of alcoholic beverages for the manufacture of beer, wine and brandy.
• Elephants, rhinos and giraffes feed on leaves, while velvet monkeys, baboons and warthogs like to eat fruit of ebony tree.

Other Facts

• Ebony cannot float on the surface of water (it sinks).
• It is a known timber tree and highly valued for its black wood used for furniture making.
• Wood is very heavy, very durable, and resistant to fungi and insect attack.
• Bark and leaves are used as a blistering plaster.
• It is mainly exported to China for furniture and to Europe as fancy wood.
• Wood is used in sports goods, musical and mathematical instruments, ornamental carvings, piano keys, chess pieces, rulers, the backs of brushes, stands for ornaments and turnery.
• Small trees containing little or no heartwood are used locally for posts, beams, joists, rafters, window sills, parts of agricultural implements, etc.; also, in lumbering, small poles are used for skids on account of their hardness, toughness and smooth wearing qualities.
• The heartwood (or sometimes sap and heart together) is used for scabbards, canes, hilts, tool handles, gunstocks, saw frames, etc.
• It is a favorite for musical instruments, especially finger boards and keys of guitars; furniture, cabinetwork, inlaying; paper weights, inkstands and similar desk supplies; the sapwood, which is almost as hard as the heartwood and very much tougher.
• It is an excellent material for T-squares and other drawing instruments, for shuttles, bobbins, spindles, golf-club heads and shafts, axe, pick, and hammer handles, etc.
• In the West Indies, unripe fruit is pounded and thrown into the water to narcotize the fish.
• It is mainly exported to China for furniture and to Europe as fancy wood.
• In Sri Lanka, it is illegal to harvest and sell ebony wood.
• The wood was preferred for making door and window handles, table-ware shanks.
• The wood is extremely valuable, so it is sold in kilograms.
• The sawdust can be injurious to health, especially the eyes and respiratory organs.
• Ceylon ebony is often planted together with cardamom in India to provide shade required for the proper development of cardamom.
• Bark of ebony tree can be used as a source of dark blue pigment that is used for painting of cloth.

References:

https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=505969#null

https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Diospyros+ebenum

https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/19551#toidentity

http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-2769646

https://gd.eppo.int/taxon/DOSEB

https://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Indian%20Ebony.html

http://www.stuartxchange.com/Sapote.html

https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/10434

https://uses.plantnet-project.org/en/Diospyros_ebenum

https://uses.plantnet-project.org/en/Diospyros_ebenum_(PROSEA)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diospyros_ebenum

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=14283

https://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Diospyros+ebenum

https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/treedb/AFTPDFS/Diospyros_ebenum.PDF

https://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Indian%20Ebony.html

https://adminplants.sc.egov.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=DIEB2

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