THE FLOWERS OF DIOSPYROS KAKI L. F.* 



H. Harold Hume. 



To quote from tlie usual descriptions of the genus 

 Diospyros as given in American texts, the flowers are 

 ''dioecious, rarely polygamous" and though both stami- 

 nate and pistillate flowers are accurately described, no 

 mention is made of the characteristics or peculiarities of 

 the perfect flowers, though the persimmon has three kinds 

 of flowers, namely, perfect, staminate and pistillate. This 

 naturally leads to the belief that the perfect flowers are 

 indeed rare in the American species, D. virginiana and 

 D. texana. A careful examination of many trees of the 

 former species, while in bloom, has resulted in finding 

 none so far and difficult as it would be to find such flow- 

 ers on growing trees, it would be almost as difficult to 

 detect their presence in herbarium specimens. Perhaps 

 the easiest way to find them would be to locate, if pos- 

 sible, staminate trees which bear some fruit. A careful 

 search of such trees during the next season might lead 

 to their discovery. However the perfect flowers of an 

 introduced species, Z>. Kaki have been found as detailed 

 below. 



On April 19, 1909, while pollenating flowers of D. 

 Kakl with pollen of D. virginiana, staminate flowers of 

 D. Kaki were first noticed on a tree of ''Taber's No. 23" 

 planted March 4, 1899. As the blooming period for this 

 particular tree was nearly over, only six staminate 

 flowers could be found, but a careful examination of the 

 dried corollas on the ground beneath the tree showed 

 that hundreds of these flowers had been produced, and 

 in the tree, numerous small twigs were found with the 

 peduncles of staminate flowers still adhering. Pistillate 



* Presented by title to The Academy of Science of St. Louis, Novem- 

 ber 17, 1913. 



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