1 6 Trees with Simple Leaves. [A i 



Genus DIOSPYROS, L. (Persimmon.) 



From two ('.reek words meaning fruit of Jove. 



Fig. 7. — Persimmon. J). Virginiana, L. 



Leaves, simple ; alternate ; edge entire. 



Outline, long oval or long egg-shape. Apex, pointed. 

 Base, pointed or rounded. 



Leaf, three to five inches long, thickish ; dark and 

 smooth, usually shining, above ; below dull, with the 

 ribs curved and irregular and minutely downy. On 

 the upper surface the ribs are quite indistinct, except 

 as the leaf is held toward the light when they appear 

 almost transparent. In the same position the leaf is 

 seen also to be edged with a slight delicate fringe 

 (appearing in the dried leaf like a line of yellow 



light). 



Bark of trunk dark and rough. 



Flowers, greenish-yellow and small, at the base of the leaf- 

 stems. June. 



Fruit, about one inch in diameter, rounded, nearly stem- 

 less, orange-red when ripe, with about eight large 

 flat, seeds. After frost it is of very pleasant flavor, 

 before, exceedingly " puckery." 



Found, from Connecticut southward to Florida and west- 

 ward to Southeastern Iowa. 



A tree twenty to sixty feet high ; sometimes, at the 

 South, more than one hundred feet high. The wood is 

 hard and close-grained ; the bark tonic and astringent. 



