EBONY FAMILY
273. PERSIMMON (Diospyros virginiana L.) a common small or rarely large tree, on dry, open ground, old fields or sometimes rich bottom lands. Leaves: ovate, entire, 4 to 6 inches long, dark and shining above, paler beneath. Twigs: slender, light brown or ashy gray, with a thick pith cavity. Bark: dark, divided into nearly square blocks. Flowers: dioecious, pistillate solitary bell-shaped about ¾ inch deep and ½ inch wide; staminate shorter and tubular clustered in 2’s or 3’s; both creamy colored, opening in May. Fruit: soft, round, orange-brown, about 1 to 2 inches across, containing many large, flat, smooth seeds; edible, ripe in fall and winter, whenever the calyx separates readily from the fruit. Wood: hard, dense, strong; brown or black heartwood, wide sapwood white or yellowish; used for shuttles, golf-stick heads, but not commercially valuable.