DALBERGIA MELANOXYLON

Dalbergia melanoxylon (African blackwood, grenadilla, or mpingo) is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to seasonally dry regions of Africa from Senegal east to Eritrea and south to the Transvaal in South Africa. The tree is an important timber species in its native areas; it is used in the manufacture of musical instruments and fine furniture. Populations and genomic resources for genetic biodiversity maintenance in parts of its native range are threatened by over harvesting due to poor or absent conservation planning and by the species' low germination rates.

African blackwood
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Faboideae
Genus:	Dalbergia
Species:	D. melanoxylon
Binomial name
Dalbergia melanoxylon Guill & Perr.
Synonyms
Amerimnon melanoxylon (Guill. & Perr.) Kuntze Amerimnon stocksii (Benth.) Kuntze Dalbergia stocksii Benth.

It is a small tree, reaching 4–15 m tall, with grey bark and spiny shoots. The leaves are deciduous in the dry season alternate, 6–22 cm long, pinnately compound, with 6-9 alternately arranged leaflets. The flowers are white and produced in dense clusters. The fruit is a pod 3–7 cm long, containing one to two seeds.

Uses

The dense, lustrous wood, ranges from reddish to pure black. It is generally cut into small billets or logs with its sharply demarcated bright yellow white sapwood left on to assist in the slow drying so as to prevent cracks developing. Good quality "A" grade African blackwood commands high prices on the commercial timber market. The tonal qualities of African blackwood are particularly valued when used in woodwind instruments, principally clarinets, oboes, transverse flutes, piccolos, Highland pipes and Northumbrian pipes. The timber is used mainly because of its machinability and dimensional stability. Deering Banjo Company uses blackwood ("grenadilla") to construct the tone ring in its John Hartford model banjo. Deering indicates that this reduces weight versus brass/bronze tone rings, and that the wood "plays in" (improves in tone) with use. Furniture makers from the time of the Egyptians have valued this timber. A story states that it has even been used as ballast in trading ships and that some enterprising Northumbrian pipe makers used old discarded blackwood ballast to great effect. The German knife company Wüsthof [Zwilling J. A. Heckles] has also begun to sell a series of knives with blackwood handles due to the wood's moisture repellent qualities. Gresso, a cell phone manufacturer based in Russia, recently began selling luxury cell phones whose casing is made from African blackwood.

Due to overuse, the mpingo tree is severely threatened in Kenya and is needing attention in Tanzania and Mozambique. The trees are being harvested at an unsustainable rate, partly because of illegal smuggling of the wood into Kenya, but also because the tree takes upwards of 60 years to mature.

Relation to other wood

• African blackwood is no longer regarded as ebony, a name now reserved for a limited number of timbers yielded by the genus Diospyros: these are more of a matte appearance and are more brittle.
• The genus Dalbergia yields other famous timbers such as Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra), Dalbergia cearensis and cocobolo (Dalbergia retusa).

Names

Other names by which the tree is known include babanus and grenadilla, which appear as loanwords in various local English dialects.

Conservation

There are multiple organisations involved in the conservation of African blackwood: the Mpingo Conservation & Development Initiative, the African Blackwood Conservation Project, and Clarinets for Conservation.

The Mpingo Conservation & Development Initiative (MCDI, formerly the Mpingo Conservation Project) is involved in research, awareness raising and practical conservation of African blackwood. Conservation of Mpingo and its natural habitat can be achieved by ensuring that local people living in mpingo harvesting areas receive a fair share of the revenue created, thus providing them with an incentive to manage the habitat in an environmentally friendly manner. In order to achieve this, the MCDI is helping communities to get Forest Stewardship Certification.

The African blackwood Conservation Project works around Mount Kilimanjaro replanting African blackwood trees, and in conservation education. It also works with adult and women's groups in the promotion of environmentally sound land uses

Clarinets for Conservation is based in Moshi, Tanzania and aims to raise awareness and promote conservation of Mpingo through music education. Students participate in an interdisciplinary program during the summer months that raises awareness of the value of Mpingo through musical performances, classroom instruction, and tree plantings at local secondary and primary schools.

Small growers in Naples, Florida, have been successful in growing African blackwood there. Growth habit in Florida yields taller, larger trees, and the rich soil combined with ample nutrients and long growing season yields timber of superior quality at more sustainable rates. Hopefully, ventures like this will be able to take strain off African reserves and allow this timber to be used in the future.

Footnotes

1. ^ The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species, retrieved 12 December 2015
2. ^ ^a b Amri, E.; Z.L. Kanyeka; H.V.M. Lyaruu; A.S. Nyomora (2009). "Evaluation of genetic diversity in Dalbergia elanoxylon populations using random amplified polymorphic DNA markers". Research Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology (INSInet Publication) 3 (2): 71–79.
3. ^ Most Expensive Wood. June 22, 2009
4. ^ World's Most Expensive Cell Phones. October 11, 2010
5. ^ "Welcome". Mpingo Conservation & Development Initiative. Retrieved 2013-07-07.
6. ^ "Home". African Blackwood Conservation Project. Retrieved 2013-07-07.
7. ^ "Our Mission". Clarinets for Conservation. Retrieved 2013-07-07.

References and External Links

• World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1998). Dalbergia melanoxylon. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006.
• ARKive - images and movies of the African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon)
• Tanzania: Protecting the World's Most Expensive Tree
• FAO factsheet
• Winrock Forestry factsheet
• Global Trees factsheet
• Mpingo conservation
• Sustainable Blackwood - the Sound and Fair campaign
• Some facts about the wood
• Direct source for local Mozambican African Blackwood
• ENVIRONMENT-TANZANIA: Protecting the World's Most Expensive Tree
• Online source for Mozambican African Blackwood
• Dalbergia melanoxylon, in West African plants – A Photo Guide.

- Wikipedia 

Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Meal Plans

Vegetarian meal. Photo Credit Eising/Photodisc/Getty Images

Lacto-ovo vegetarians exclude meat, fish and poultry from their diets, but include dairy and eggs, making it easier for them to meet their nutrient needs than vegans who don't consume eggs and dairy products. Following a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet can improve your health. A well-planned lacto-ovo vegetarian diet can reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease, and help you maintain a healthy weight, according to the American Dietetic Association.

Whole Grains

Whole grain bread. Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, calories count. The number of servings you should eat from each food group depends on your calorie needs. Talk to your doctor about how many calories you need each day. Most healthy adult men and women can maintain a healthy weight consuming 2,000 calories a day. On a 2,000-calorie diet, you should eat six servings of whole grains a day. Whole grains and serving sizes include one slice of whole wheat bread, 1/2 cup of cooked oatmeal, 1 cup of whole grain ready-to-eat cereal, five whole grain crackers, two rice cakes and 1/2 cup of brown rice or whole wheat pasta. Whole grains contain fiber, B vitamins and iron

Legumes and Soy

Soybeans. Photo Credit Petro Perutskyi/iStock/Getty Images

Legumes and soy products provide the lacto-ovo vegetarian with protein, iron, folate and fiber. Aim for three servings a day. A serving might include 1/2 cup of cooked beans, such as chickpeas or kidney beans, 1/2 cup of tofu or 1 cup of soy milk.

Vegetables

Kale. Photo Credit Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images

Vegetables provide vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, folate and fiber. You need about eight servings of vegetables a day on a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. One serving might include 1 cup of leafy greens, 1/2 cup of raw chopped vegetables or 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables. Healthy vegetable choices include kale, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, peppers, sweet potatoes, cucumbers and mushrooms.

Fruits

Cut up cantaloupe melon. Photo Credit Viktar Malyshchyts/iStock/Getty Images

Fruit also contains vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, folate and fiber. Include four servings of fruit a day in your lacto-ovo vegetarian meal plan. Healthy choices and serving sizes include a medium apple, orange or pear, 1 cup of strawberries or blueberries, 1 cup of cubed melon, 3/4 cup of 100 percent fruit juice and 1/4 cup of dried fruit.

Nuts and Seeds

Peanut butter on toast. Photo Credit Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images

Nuts and seeds contain protein, fiber and magnesium. Nuts also act as healthy sources of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Including more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats in your diet can help reduce your blood cholesterol levels. You can have one serving of nuts or seeds a day. Serving sizes include 1 ounce of nuts or 2 tablespoons of a nut butter.

Olive oil. Photo Credit Volosina/iStock/Getty Images

Oils also contain monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Include two servings of oil in your lacto-ovo vegetarian meal plan. Healthy choices and serving sizes include 1 teaspoon of olive oil or other plant oil or 1/8 of an avocado.

Dairy Foods

Cottage cheese. Photo Credit Digital Vision./Photodisc/Getty Images

Dairy foods provide the lacto-ovo vegetarian with calcium, vitamin D and vitamin B12. You need about two servings of dairy foods a day on this diet. Choose low-fat or nonfat dairy foods to limit your intake of saturated fat. Eating too much saturated fat can increase your blood cholesterol levels. Dairy choices and serving sizes include 1 cup of low-fat or nonfat milk, 1 cup of low-fat or nonfat yogurt, 1 1/2 ounces of low-fat natural cheese and 1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese.

Eggs

Cooked egg on toast. Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Polka Dot/Getty Images

Eating eggs can help you meet your protein and iron needs. You need half of an egg a day on your lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. Because egg yolks are high in cholesterol, eating too many a week can increase your blood cholesterol levels.

www.livestrong.com

CALAMANDER WOOD

Calamander wood or Coromandel wood is a valuable wood from India, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and South East Asia. It is of a hazel-brown color, with black stripes (or the other way about), very heavy and hard. It is also known as Macassar Ebony or variegated ebony and is closely related to genuine ebony, but is obtained from different species in the same genus; one of these is Diospyros quaesitaThwaites, from Sri Lanka. The name Calamander comes from the local sinhalese name, 'kalu-medhiriya', which means dark chamber; referring to the characteristic ebony black wood. It is used in furniture, Luthiery and for sculpture.

Coromandel wood has been logged to extinction over the last 2 to 3 hundred years and is no longer available for new work in any quantity. Furniture in coromandel is so expensive and so well looked after that even recycling it is an unlikely source. A substitute, Macassar Ebony, has similar characteristics and to the untrained eye is nearly the same but it lacks the depth of colour seen in genuine Coromandel.

bookmatched veneer

References

• Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

In Literature

Coromandel Wood is referred to by Dame Edith Sitwell in her poem "Black Mrs Behemoth", part of "Façade", the grain of which, she likened to the rolling, curling smoke of a blown out candle.

- Wikipedia