Persimmon
In the Southern, Western, and Middle States, some say as far north as New York, grows the persimmon. Deliciously sweet and spicy when frost has ripened it, very astringent until ripe. It is plentiful in Kentucky and one of my earliest memories is of going to market with my mother in the fall to buy persimmons. There I learned to avoid the fair, perfect fruit, though to all appearances it was quite ripe, and to choose that which looked bruised and broken.
The persimmon is about the size of a plum, but is flattened at the poles. It grows close to the branch and its calyx is large. The color is yellow generally flushed with red. Some writers describe it as juicy, but I would not call it that; the flesh is more like custard or soft jelly.
The tree usually varies in height from thirty to fifty feet, but in some places is said to reach one hundred or more feet. The trunk is short and the branches spreading. In the south it often forms a thicket in uncultivated fields and along roadsides. The bark is dark brown or dark gray, the surface is scaly and divided into plates. The leaves are usually a narrow oval with smooth edges; when matured they are dark green and glossy on the upper side, underneath pale and often downy. The flower is a creamy-white or greenish-yellow.