COMMON PERSIMMON
Diospyros virginiana, L.
Form.—Height 25-50 feet, diameter 8-14 inches; trunk usually short; crown broad and rounded when not too much crowded.
Leaves.—Alternate, simple, ovate-oblong, 4-6 inches long, smooth, entire, dark-green and shining above, often somewhat hairy beneath.
Flowers.—May-June; polygamous, white or pale yellow; the staminate in 2-3-flowered cymes; the pistillate solitary and borne on short stalks.
Fruit.—Matures after frost in autumn; a spherical yellowish, plum-like berry, containing from 1-8 large seeds, and with large, persistent calyx; astringent when green, sweet and edible when fully ripe.
Bark.—Rough on old trunks, with dark gray ridges which are broken into somewhat rectangular sections.
Wood.—Hard, heavy, close-grained, taking a high polish, brown to black with yellowish sapwood, sometimes streaked with black.