Pas, S127, 
DIOSPYROS Kak. 
Fastern India, China, and Japan. 
; EBENACEAE. 
Diosryros, Linn. ; Benth, et Hook. f. Gen, Plamt. vol. ii. p. 665. 
Diospyros Kaki, Linn. f. Suppl. 1781, p. 439; Thunb. Fl. Jap. 1784, p. 157; 
Att. Hort. Kew. ed. 2, 1813, vol. v. p. 478; DC. Prodr. 1844, vol. viii. 
p- 229, excl. var. glabra ; Hiern in Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc. 1873, vol. xii. 
p. 227; Wight Ic. Pl. Ind. Or. 1842, vol. ii. t. 415; Bretsch. Harly Res. 
1881, pp. 5, 23, 29, et Europ. Bot. Discov. in China, 1898, p. 630; W. W. in 
Gard. Chron. 1893, vol. xiv. p. 682; Sargent, For. Fl. Jap. 1894, p. 50; 
species ex affinitate D. Loti, a qua floribus femineis distincte pedunculatis, 
calyce sericeo, corolla extus tomentosa et fructu majore differt. 
Arbor parva habitu Pyri Mali, dum juvenilis jam fructuosa. Ramuli flori- 
geri pubescentes. Folia alterna, decidua, breviter petiolata, lanceolata, 
oblonga, elliptica vel interdum fere orbicularia, interdum usque ad 20 em. 
longa sed saepius minora, subtus primum pubescentia denique glabra. 
Flores masculi parvi, axillares, terni, tetrameri. Calyx campanulatus, 
lobis ovatis vel lanceolatis. Corolla urceolata, extus pubescens. 
Stamina saepius 16, pubescentia. Flores feminei axillares, solitarii, 
tetrameri, flavo-virides, circiter 4 cm. diametro. Culycis lobi crassi, late 
ovati vel semiorbiculares, obtusi, fructu valde ‘accrescentes, persistentes. 
Corollae coriaceae pilosae lobi oblongo-rotundati, arcte recurvi. Stami- 
nodia saepius 8, pilosa, alterna staminibus fertilibus similia, alterna 
multo minora, corollae lobis opposita. Ovariwm 8-loculare, basi pilosum ; 
stylus inclusus, stigmatibus 4 bifidis. Fructus saepe magnus, globosus, 
sed forma ac magnitudine valde variabilis.—D. chinensis, Blume, Cat. 
Gew. Buitenz. 1823, p. 110. D. Schitze, Bunge, Enum. P!. Chin. Bor. 
1834, p. 42. D. costata, Carr. in Rev. Hort. 1869, p. 284 et 1870, p. 410, 
cum ic. color. D. Rowburghii, Carr. op. cit. 1872, p. 253, ff. 28 et 29. 
D. Mazeli, Carr. 1874, p. 70 cum ic. color. D. Lycopersicon, Carr. op. cit. 
1878, p. 470, cum ic. color.* 
_ The genus Diospyros numbers nearly 200 species, widely 
spread in tropical and subtropical countries; rarer in tem- 
perate regions, and not represented in extra-tropical 
South America, Southern Australia, or New Zealand. 
D, Kaki, as defined by Hiern, Franchet, and Savatier, and 
other botanists, is a very variable species, including a 
number of forms regarded as species by some botanists. 
Whether the numerous and very different varieties of Date 
Plum cultivated in China and Japan have descended from 
* The synonyms of the Kaki are numerous, and only the more important 
ones are given here; but it is proposed to reproduce the complete synonymy, 
together with some gleanings from the literature of the subject, in an early 
number of the “ Kew Bulletin.” 
Aprit Ist, 1907. 
