690 WILSON EXPEDITION TO CHINA 



cies. In many varieties at least fertilization is not necessary for the development 

 of fruit and there are numerous seedless forms. 



In northern China this fruit is known as " Schitsze/' but the colloquial name 

 varies in different parts of the country, though the written characters may be the 

 same. It is figured by Boym in his Flora Sinensis t. M. (1656). In Japan it is 

 known as " kaki '* and it is described and figured by Kaempfer (Amoen. Exot. V. 

 807, fig. [1712]). 



Much has been written to prove that the Japanese and Chinese Persimmons 

 have been evolved from distinct "=pecies and diiTerent varieties have been given 

 specific rank. From the evidence gleaned during his travels in China and Japan 

 Wilson is of the opinion that all these different forms have originated from one 

 common species and that the wild form of this species is to-day naturalized and 

 spontaneous in western Hupeh and probably elsewhere in China. 



A picture of this tree will be found under No. 675 of the collection of Wilson's 

 photographs. 



Diospyxos kaki, var. silvestris Makino in Tokyo BoL Mag. XXII. 

 159 (1908). — Matsumura, Ind. PL Jap, II. pt. 2, 484 (1912). 



Diospyros Roxburghii Hemsley in Kew BulL Misc. Inform. 1911, 236 (vix 

 Carriere) . 



Western Hupeh: north and south of Ichang, thickets, margins of 



woods, alt. 300-1500 m., May and October 1907 (Nos. 511. 429. 2913; 

 tree 6-12 m. tall, girth 0.6-1.5 m., flowers creamy-white, fruit de- 

 pressed, golden); same locality, A, Henry (Nos. 1502, 3485, 3441); 

 Changlo Hsien, margins of woods, alt. 1000 m., May 1907 (No. 2914; 

 tree 6 m. tall). Szech'uan: banks of Yangtze River, May 1902 

 (Veitch Exped. No. 4060; bush 1 m. tall, flowers white). Yunnan: 

 Mengtsze, mountains north, alt. 1600 m., A. Henry ( N 

 3 m,); Szemao, woods and forests, alt. 1500-1600 m., A. Henry (Nos 

 9341, 11618, 11618^ 11618^ 11618^). Korea: Quelpaert, in woods, 

 ]Vi:ay and June 1909, Ta^et (Nos. 2933, 2978, 2980). 



This tree, the wild type of the Chinese and Japanese Persimmons, is common as 

 an escape everywhere in Hupeh and Szech'uan, and is spontaneous in thickets and 

 on the margin of woods in western Hupeh. It is a small or moderately large tree 

 with light gray bark which peels off in small irregular flakes or patches. The 

 year-old shoots are purphsh gray and the winter-buds are small, obtuse or rounded 

 and usually more or less pubescent. The leaves vary immensely in size and degree of 

 hairiness. In shape they vary from lanceolate to broadly ovate and from narrowly 

 cuneate to rounded or truncate at the base. These same variations are met with 

 in the type, but as a rule the leaves on the cultivated plant are larger. The flowers 

 Bhow the same variation as in the type, but the female flowers are not so large 

 and the ovary is often densely hairy. The fruit is small (1.5-5 cm. diam.), golden, 

 ovoid or depressed and yields a valuable varnish-oil (see Wilson, A Naturalutin 

 Western China, II. 73 [1913}), hence the colloquial name Yu-shih-tzu, i. e. Oil- 

 Persimmon." In Japan this tree occurs as an escape from cultivation only ana 1 

 is not indigenous to Japan. This wild variety is often used in western China as 

 a stock for the garden forms of edible Persimmon. 



