CHAPTER XXV 



The Persimmon 



The ebony family or Ebenaceae of the order Ebenales is com- 

 paratively large, with upwards of 300 different species distributed 

 among 5 or 6 genera, more than half of them being referable to 

 the genus Diospyros to which our common eastern form belongs. 

 The name Diospyros is derived from the Greek and means God or 

 life-giving or heavenly. Its selection for these particular plants 

 required the same type of imagination which gave to our common 

 clams the name Venus, and which saw the mythical shapes embodied 

 in the constellations. Most of my readers are famihar with our 

 common American persimmon or "Possom wood" and not a few 

 will recall the extremely astringent taste of its unripe fruits. Many 

 are also familiar with large edible persimmons of China and Japan 

 which are now often cultivated in our extreme southern States. 

 Persimmon wood is hard and strong and is used to a considerable 

 extent in the manufacture of bobbins and similar articles. This 

 quahty of hardness and fineness of grain runs through the whole 

 family and the bulk of the ebony of commerce is derived from 

 various species of Diospyros. According to the writer of the Book 

 of Ezekiel, ebony was one of the articles of merchandise of the 

 Phoenicians and the ancients esteemed it even more than we do at 

 the present time. Virgil and Pliny mention it as a product of 

 India and Herodotus relates that it was one of the articles of tribute 

 in the days of the Persian Empire. Naturally a wood which has 

 been utilized for so long, a wood so fine-grained, hard, and heavy, 

 and susceptible of such a high polish was thought to possess many 

 mystic virtues. It was used for making scepters, images and drink- 

 ing cups because of its supposed antagonism to poison. Pau- 

 sanius relates that the ebony tree produced neither leaves or fruit, 

 nor was ever seen exposed to the sun. 



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