DENDROLOGY. 



149 



DIOSPYROS. 



Polygamia Dioscia. Linn. Guaiacanee. Juss. Tonic, warming stomachic. 



Persimon. Diospyros Virginiana. 



The banks of the river 

 Connecticut, below the 42 d 

 degree of latitude, may be 

 considered as the northern 

 limit of this tree ; but it is 

 rendered rare in these parts 

 by the severity of the winter, 

 while in New Jersey it is 

 common and still more so in 

 Pennsylvania, Maryland and 

 the Southern States : it 

 abounds, also, in the western 

 forests. It is every where 

 known to Americans by the 

 name which we have adopted ; 

 the French call it Plaquemi- 

 nier, and its fruit plaqumines. 

 The persimon varies surprisingly in size in different soils and 

 climates. In New Jersey it is not more than half as large as in 

 the more southern states, where, in favorable situations, it is 

 sometimes 60 feet in height and 18 or 20 inches in diameter. 

 The trunk. of a full-grown tree is covered with a deeply-furrowed 

 blackish bark, from which a greenish gum exudes without taste 

 or smell. The leaves are from four to six inches in length, 

 oblong, entire, of a fine green above and glaucous beneath : in 

 autumn they are often variegated with black spots. The terminal 

 shoots are observed to be usually accompanied, at the base, by 

 small, rounded leaves. This tree belongs to the class of 

 vegetables whose sexes are confined to different stocks. Both 

 the barren and fertile flowers are greenish and not strikingly 

 apparent. They put forth in June or July. The ripe fruit is 



PLATE xx VI. 

 Fig. 1. A leaf Fig. 2. The fruit. 



