Many other species now existing are to be viewed only as relics of a bygone, often much more continuous and more widespread dispersal. In the persimmons, of which over a hundred different kinds are now known, the original distribution covered all North America, all Europe and Asia, except the Scandinavian Peninsula, all of Africa, northern Australia and South America. To-day the genus is restricted mostly to tropical Asia, southern Africa,
Some of the Commoner Plants of the Desert in the Southwest. The fanlike branches at the left are the ocotillo (Fouquieria), the two short tree cacti and choya cactus (Opuntia) and the leafless tree in the central background the palo verde (Parkinsonia). (Photo by the late Edward L. Morris, released for publication here by the Brooklyn Museum.)