THE PERSIMMON 



259 



The records include Greece, Germany, Italy, Austria, and France 

 and embrace calices or leaves of at least 15 different species. 

 Especially in southern France where the climate approached 

 subtropical conditions, numerous varieties of the persimmon flour- 

 ished along the borders of the shallow gulf which extended up the 

 Rhone valley. In succeeding Miocene time, a period of luxuriant 

 forests, species of persimmon are found throughout Europe. In 

 America where the Miocene records are very incompletely pre- 

 served, the persimmon is recorded from Montana, Colorado, 



Fig. 47. Sketch Map of the World Showing the Distributional Areas 



OF the Existing Species of Diospyros (solid black) and the More 



Extended Range of the Fossil Species (ruled lines) 



California, and Oregon. The leaves of at least 2 species are pre- 

 served in the late Miocene upland lake basin of Florissant in the 

 Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Specimens of Diospyros calices 

 from the Miocene of Switzerland are shown in figures 5 and 6. 



The Miocene period was followed by the Pliocene, a time during 

 which the American deposits appear to have been unfavorable, 

 either because of their character or location, for the preservation 

 of fossil plants, since practically none have been discovered. In 



