Ebony certification in several South Asian countries. Ebony Ebony is a dense black hardwood, most commonly yielded by several different species in the genus "Diospyros", which also contains the persimmons. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely-textured and has a very smooth finish when polished, making it valuable as an ornamental wood. The word "ebony" comes from the Ancient Egyptian "hbny", through the Ancient Greek ("ébenos"), into Latin and Middle English. Species of ebony include "Diospyros ebenum" (Ceylon ebony), native to southern India and Sri Lanka; "Diospyros crassiflora" (Gabon ebony), native to western Africa; and "Diospyros celebica"
Diospyros candolleana Diospyros candolleana Diospyros candolleana, is a tree in the Ebony family, endemic to the Western Ghats of India and Sri Lanka. The trees are usually 20m tall, and found as subcanopy trees in wet evergreen forests up to 90m. The bark of "D. candolleana" is smooth, dark, and blaze-reddish in color. Branchlets are terete and show adpressed hairs when young. Leaves are simple, alternate, distichous; petioles are 0.6-1.1 cm long and canaliculate. Leaves are hairy when young, and glabrous when mature. Lamina is about 6-18 x 3.5-7.5 cm in length, shape is oblong to elliptic-oblong. Flowers are unisexual and dioecious.