SEEDED FRUITS IN THE PERSIMMON 



107 



I 



1911 the fruits of two trees of Taher 23,^ growing at Auburn, 

 Alabama, became non-astringent only after treatment with CO2, 

 or prolonged keeping. The mesocarp was always clear opaque 

 yellow, becoming watery on softening, though in these fruits, as 

 in those of other kinds, an occasional spot of red colour might be 

 seen. In September, 1912, however, it was found that all the 

 fruits of these trees were non-astringent, and this condition was 

 found not only in the fruits approaching ripeness, as indicated by 

 their rich orange colour, but in those still quite green (Lloyd, I. c). 

 Mr. Hume, who examined these trees personally in 1914, informed 

 me by letter (November 9, 1914) that the same condition then 

 obtained, and held it to be connected with pollination and sub- 

 sequent seed production. 



Kindly responding to my ready willingness to look into the 

 histological and cytological conditions obtaining in the tissues of 

 these red-fleshed and non-astringent fruits, Mr. Hume provided 

 me with a number of fruits of the race Zengi, which behave in 

 the manner above adverted to. The results presently set down 

 are based entirely upon these. Before proceeding to an exami- 

 nation of the seeded Zengi fruits, however, a brief review of the 

 nature of the tannin-bearing cells in the persimmon will facili- 

 tate discussion. 



These are large spindle-shaped cells found arranged in rather 

 irregular, shorter or longer strands traversing the fruit in a longi- 

 tudinal sense, exclusive of the endocarp from which they are ab- 

 sent. Each cell consists of a protoplast enclosing a very large 

 central vacuole. The cell-wall is thin, as in the remaining paren- 

 chyma cells. The vacuole is filled with a mucilage-like emulsion 

 colloid, a carbohydrate of the nature of cellulose"* (here called 

 X-cellulose), capable of indefinite solution in water until a late 

 condition of ripeness of the fruit is attained, when it becomes co- 

 agulated, and later undergoes syneresis. As a result of its great 



3 "Taber 129" in my earlier papers on this general subject. There were but 

 two trees of the race "Taber" at Auburn, and there was some uncertainty as to 

 their identity. Mr. Hume designates them Taber 23. 



* Clarke, E. D. Notes on the chemical nature of the "tannin masses" in the 

 fruit of the persimmon. Biochem. Bull. 2: 412-418, April, 1913. 



THE PLANT WORLD, VOL. 19, NO. 4, 1916 



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