Mpingo
African Blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) ~ Ebony

Mpingo grows in the savannah grasslands of east-central Africa, although it is more common in the coastal lowlands. It is found in the drier parts of the country, apart from desert scrub, and can be frequently found in mixed deciduous forest, but less so in Western miombo (lowland woodland) country. Its leaves provide fodder for the great migrating herds along the Serengeti plain; its roots have a nitrogen-fixing effect and so serve to increase the soil's fertility.


Mpingo


Mpingo is the African ebony of antiquity, referred to in records dating to Egyptian times. In today's terminology the name 'ebony' is commonly used for a different species, Diosporos spp., which also has black heartwood, but is more brittle, less lustrous and lacks many of mpingo's other superb woodworking characteristics.


Ebony Carving


MPINGO (African Ebony) produces heartwood with properties making it eminently suitable for the manufacture of traditional carvings and musical instruments. It is a very hardy tree often growing in situations where productive agriculture is rendered impossible by shallow and rocky soil.

A black hardwood, famous for it's lustrous beauty, it is a delicacy in the world of the African wood sculptor. Skilled ebony sculptors tend to migrate to the few regions of Africa where ebony wood is grown. A highly dense wood with a coarse texture and a dark interlocking grain, ebony wood normally is brown on the outside of the tree; and black on the inside. The carvings often come as a beautiful mixture of black and brown; but it is mostly the pure dark black wood that is the most well known grain.


Ebony Carver


The Mpingo tree is a much-branched, many-stemmed, spiny, deciduous tree loosing its foliage in the dry season, or shrub of dry woodland and savannah that grows up to 10-15 m tall. Mpingo does not grow in thick stands or under closed cover but prefers a more solitary existence, often taking hold in rocky and infertile soils where other plants cannot survive. The roots can be made into a medicine to relieve toothache.
Mpingo Tree