common persimmon

Family

Ebanaceae

Scientific Name

Diospyros virginiana

Other Common Names:

persimmon

Synonyms (former Scientific Names):

Diospyros virginiana var. virginiana

Diospyros virginiana var. pubescens

Diospyros virginiana var. platycarpa

Diospyros mosieri

Diospyros virginiana var. mosieri

Leaves

Leaves are deciduous, simple, alternate, ovate to elliptic or oblong with smooth edges, 3.5-8 cm long, with an acuminate apex and rounded base, the lower surface usually lighter-colored, especially on young leaves.

Identifying Characteristics

Ebony family (Ebenaceae). Native trees growing 5-12 (-21) meters tall; mature bark dark-gray, thick and blocky.

Flower Seed Head

Flowers are either male (staminate) or female (pistillate), borne on separate trees (the species dioecious) on shoots of the current year after leafing; pistillate flowers solitary, sessile or short-stalked, bell-shaped, ca. 2 cm long, the corolla creamy to greenish-yellow, fragrant, usually with 4 thick, recurved lobes; staminate flowers in 2-3-flowered clusters, tubular, 8-13 mm long, greenish-yellow.

Seed Fruit

Fruit is a berry 2-5 cm wide, greenish to yellowish with highly astringent pulp before ripening, turning yellowish-orange to reddish-orange and sweet in the fall, each fruit with 1-8 flat seeds.

Where Found

Primarily a species of the east-central and southeastern U.S., with the southeast corner of its range in Texas, reaching northeast to New York and southern Connecticut, westward through southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to Missouri and southeastern Kansas. It does not grow in the main range of the Appalachian Mountains nor in much of the oak-hickory forest of the Allegheny Plateau.

Growth Habit

woody bush or tree

Thorns or Spines

not present

Approximate Flower Diameter

larger

Dominant Flower Color

Varies:

white,

yellow

Flower Symmetry

bilateral symmetry

Leaf Hairs

no hairs

Leaf Arrangement

alternate

Leaf Margin

entire

Leaf Structure

simple

Leaf Stalk

shorter than leaf

Stem Hairs

no hairs

Stem Cross Section

round or oval

Milky Sap

not present

Life Cycle

perennial

Ochrea

not present

Plant Type

Tree