Diospyros mespiliformis The heart wood is fine-grained and strong, and is often used for making wood floors and furniture. Trunks of the tree are used for canoes. The wood ranges in color from light reddish-brown to a very dark brown. Diospyros mespiliformis Diospyros mespiliformis, the jackalberry (also known as African ebony and by its Afrikaans name jakkalsbessie), is a large dioecious evergreen tree found mostly in the savannas of Africa. Jackals are fond of the fruit, hence the common names. It is a member of the family Ebenaceae, and is related to the true ebony ("D. ebenum") and edible persimmon ("D. kaki").
Diospyros ebenum organized and wavy. Dry wood density is 1190 kg/m3. The tree is occurring in southern India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The variety of the wood found in North Sulawesi, Indonesia is "Diospyros ebenum Koenig". Known as කළුවර ගස් ("Kaluwara Gas") by Sinhalese people due to hard black wood of the tree. In Sri Lanka, it is illegal to harvest and sell ebony wood. It possesses the following valuable qualities: high wood hardness (twice as hard as oak), easy to polish (suitable for high-quality polishing, after which it becomes perfectly smooth), it has practically no pitting, provides glossy smooth surface, water