D. Virginiàna.
D. Lòtus and D. Kàki.
Diospỳros Virginiàna, L. (Common Persimmon.) Leaves 4 to 6 in. long, ovate-oblong, acuminate, rather thick, smooth, dark, shining above, a little pale beneath. Bark dark-colored and deeply furrowed in a netted manner with rather small meshes. Flowers yellowish, rather small, somewhat diœcious; the staminate ones urn-shaped with mouth nearly closed; the pistillate ones more open. June. Fruit large, 1 in.; very astringent when young, yellow and pleasant-tasting after frost. A handsome, ornamental tree, 20 to 60 ft. high, with very hard, dark-colored wood and bright foliage. Southern New England to Illinois and south; also cultivated. Diospỳros Lòtus (Date-plum), with leaves very dark green above, much paler and downy beneath, and fruit much smaller (2/3 in.), and Diospỳros Kàki (Japan Persimmon), with large, leathery, shining leaves and very large fruit (2 in.), are successfully cultivated from Washington, D. C., southward. The under leaf represents D. Lotus, the upper one a small specimen of D. Kaki.
Order XXVIII. STYRACÀCEÆ.
(Storax Family.)
A small order of shrubs and trees, mostly of warm countries.
Genus 56. STỲRAX.
Shrubs or small trees with commonly deciduous leaves, and axillary, or racemed, white, showy flowers on drooping stems. Pubescence scurfy or stellate; fruit a globular dry drupe, its base covered with the persistent calyx, forming a 1- to 3-seeded nut.
