10 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. EBENACES. 
however, to England before 1629, when an account of a cultivated tree appeared in Parkinson’s 
Paradisi in sole Paradisus terrestris,’ published in that year. 
As an ornamental tree Diospyros Virginiana is made valuable by its hardiness, its power of 
adapting itself to a great variety of soils and climates, its good habit, its large and lustrous leaves, its 
abundant crops of handsome fruit, and by its immunity from disease and the serious attacks of disfigur- 
ing insects. The excellent quality and flavor of the fruit of some uncultivated trees, and its tendency 
to vary, indicate that it could be greatly improved by careful selection and cultivation, and that in 
time it might be made to equal the best Chinese and Japanese varieties in size and flavor.’ 
Diospyros Virginiana is easily raised from seed ; it can also be increased by stolons, which are 
often produced in great numbers ; and varieties are readily increased by grafting. 
1 Lotus. 
Pishamin Virginianum. 
Parkinson, Theatr. 1523, f. 
Guaiacana Virginiana Pishamin dicta, Ray, Hist. Pl. ii. 1918. 
Guaiacana Loto arboris Guaiaco Patavino affinis Virginiana, 
Plukenet, Phyt. t. 244, f. 5. 
Guaiacana, Plukenet, Alm. Bot. 180. — Miller, Dict. No. 3. — 
Catesby, Nat. Hist. Car. ii. 76, t. 76. 
Guajacana? Pishamin Virginianum, Boerhaave, Ind. Alt. ii. 
220. 
The Virginia Pishamin, 570, t. f. 6. 
The Virginia Date Plumme or Pishamin, 
Diospyros foliis utrinque concoloribus, Linnzeus, Hort. Cliff. 149. — 
Clayton, Fl. Virgin. 43. — Royen, Fl. Leyd. Prodr. 441. 
2 In size the fruit of Diospyros Virginiana varies from that of a 
small cherry to that of a large plum. On some trees it becomes 
so soft when fully ripe that in falling to the ground it is crushed 
by its own weight, while on other trees growing under identical 
conditions it remains nearly as hard as stone after severe freezing. 
Some trees in the south produce fruit which is sweet and luscious 
without the action of frost, and on adjoining trees it preserves its 
acidity when nearly rotten, never becoming edible. 
8 Garden and Forest, i. 514. 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 
Puate CCLII. Drospyros VIRGINIANA. 
. A flowering branch of a staminate tree, natural size. 
. A flowering branch of a pistillate tree, natural size. 
. Diagram of a staminate flower. 
. Diagram of a pistillate flower. 
. Vertical section of a staminate flower, enlarged. 
A pair of stamens, enlarged. 
Vertical section of a pistillate flower, enlarged. 
. Cross section of an ovary, enlarged. 
OWMANA TR WH 
. An ovule, much magnified. 
eS 
S 
. A winter branchlet, natural size. 
Pirate CCLIII. Diosprros Vircrniana. 
. A fruiting branch, natural size. 
An oblong fruit, natural size. 
. Vertical section of a fruit, natural size. 
. Cross section of a fruit, natural size. 
A seed, natural size. 
oO Om WN 
. An embryo, enlarged. 
