Diospyros sandwicensis Diospyros sandwicensis Diospyros sandwicensis is a species of flowering tree in the ebony family, Ebenaceae, that is endemic to Hawaii. It belongs to the same genus as both persimmons and ebony. Its common name, lama, also means enlightenment in Hawaiian. "Lama" is a small to medium-sized tree, with a height of and a trunk diameter of . It can be found in dry, coastal mesic, mixed mesic, and wet forests at elevations of on all major islands. "Lama" and "olopua" ("Nestegis sandwicensis") are dominant species in lowland dry forests on the islands of Maui, Molokai, Kahoolawe, and Lānai. The sapwood
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