4 GO 



o i o 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



D I O 



therae sessile, linear, at the side of the nectary, converging 

 at top ; capsules somewhat kidney-form, each on its proper 

 peduncle; seeds destitute of an aril. Native of Cochin-china. 



Diospyros ; a genus of the class Polyganiia, order Dioecia ; 

 or, according to Thunberg, of the class Octandria, order 

 Monogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Hermaphrodite female. 

 Calix ; perianth one-leafed, four-cleft, large, obtuse, per- 

 manent. Corolla.- one - petalled, pitcher -shaped, larger, 

 four-cleft ; divisions sharp, spreading. Stamina : filamenta 

 eight, bristle-form, short, almost inserted into the receptacle; 

 anthers oblong, unproductive. Pistil .- germen roundish ; 

 style single, half four-cleft, permanent, longer than the sta- 

 mina ; stigmas obtuse, two-cleft. Pericarp . berry globose, 

 large, eight-celled, sitting on a very large spreading calix. 

 Seeds : solitary, roundish, compressed, very hard. Male, in 

 a distinct plant. Calix: perianth one-leafed, four-cleft, sharp, 

 upright, small. Corolla: one-petalled, pitcher-shaped, lea- 

 thery, four-cornered, four-cleft ; divisions roundish, rolled 

 back. Stamina : filamenta eight, very short, inserted into 

 the receptacle ; antherae double, long, sharp, the interior 

 shorter. Pistil . rudiment of a germen. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Hermaphrodite. Calix : four-cleft. Corolla: pit- 

 cher-shaped, four-cleft. Stamina : eight. Style: four-cleft. 

 Berry eight-seeded. Male. Calix, Corolla, and Stamina. .- 

 of the other. The species are, 



1. Diospyros Lotus; European Date-plum. The two 

 surfaces of the leaves of different colours. The smaller 

 branches spread a little, and are yellowish ; leaves oval- 

 lanceolate, large, quite entire, paler underneath, somewhat 

 hoary, with the veins somewhat hairy ; flowers small, reddish- 

 white, rotate ; fruit the size of a cherry, yellow when ripe, 

 astringently sweet, sessile in the bosom of the leaves, within 

 the calix, which is increased, somewhat cartilaginous, flatted, 

 usually five-cleft, seldom four-cleft. These berries are re-, 

 commended as a cure for the diarrhoea. Loureiro describes 

 it as a small tree, six feet high, with spreading branches. 

 The broad-leaved variety grows up into very large trees in 

 the southern parts of Caucasus. It is also abundant in the 

 woods of Hyrcania, and along the whole coast of the Cas- 

 pian sea. Gesner was informed that it grows upon the 

 mountains in the neighbourhood of Verona; and Mr. Ray 

 is pretty confident, that he saw it in his way from Lerici to 

 Lucca, and not far from the latter place. It is also found 

 in the woods on the hills about Turin, plentifully about 

 Lyons, and upon the eastern coast of Africa, whence it is 

 supposed to have been first imported into Europe. Gerarde 

 says, that, in English, it is called Bastard Mew/nicood, which 

 name is now quite lost ; and Parkinson calls it India Date- 

 plum. This, and the second species, are both propagated 



by seeds, which will come up well in the open ground, but 

 will appear much sooner if sown upon a moderate hot- 

 bed, as well as make a greater progress : in this case the 

 seeds should be sown in pots or boxes of earth, and plunged 

 into the hot-bed, because the plants will not bear trans- 

 planting till autumn, when the leaves fall off; so that, 

 when the plants are up, and have made some progress, they 

 may be inured by degrees to the open air ; and in June they 

 may be wholly exposed, and may remain abroad until No- 

 vember, when it will be proper to set the pots under a hot- 

 bed frame, to protect them from hard frost, \vhich might 

 kill the tops while they are very young, but they must 

 have as much free air as possible in mild weather. The 

 following spring, before the plants begin to shoot, they 

 should be transplanted into a nursery, in a warm situation, 

 where they may be trained op for two years, and then re- 

 moved to the places where they are designed to remain. 

 They are both hardy enough to resist our severest winters. 



2. Diospyros Virginiana ; American Date-plum. The two 

 surfaces of the leaves of the same colour. In England it 

 rises to the height of fourteen or sixteen feet, but generally 

 divides into many irregular trunks near the ground, so that 

 it rarely forms a handsome tree. The branches arc many, and 

 grow slender to the end, covered with a thin greenish bark ; 

 leaves many, broad, green,without dentornotchon theoii, 

 and is so like the first sort, that it seems, to a slight observer, 

 to be the same. Our European Lotus has a lighter-coloured 

 bark, inclining to yellow on the branches, and yellow and 

 shining on the twigs ; the American has a dark-brown bark 

 on the branches, and on the twigs it is grayish from pubes- 

 cence, so that they are soft to the touch, whereas the others 

 are smooth : fruit, in form, si/e, and firmness, like a date, 

 and almost as sweet, with a great flat thick kernel within. 

 In England it produces fruit in abundance, but never brings 

 it to perfection. Captain Smith, in the Discovery of Virgi- 

 nia, says, if it be eaten while it is green, it draxvs the mouth 

 awry by its harsh and binding taste, but is pleasant when 

 ripe ; which, however, is not the case till it has been mel- 

 lowed by the frost, being then very sweet and glutinous, 

 with a little astringency; and a considerable quantity may 

 may be eaten without inconvenience. The Americans extract 

 a spirit from it, and make a palatable liquor with it and 

 malt. The time of ripening is from the end of September 

 to December. The wood is very hard, but brittle, rather 

 white, and very suitable for joiners' tool.';, such as pl:'i 

 handles to chisels, &c. but it soon rots if exposed to the 

 weather. It spreads very much, and is not easy to extir- 

 pate ; but in the northern provinces of the American states 

 it is often killed by frosts in hard winters. In Virginia and 

 Carolina it is called pishamin or persimon, and there is 

 plenty of it in the woods ; as well as in Pennsylvania, New 

 Jersey, Philadelphia, &c. where it is generally found in 

 wet places, round water pits. See the first species. 



3. Diospyros Kaki ; The Kaki. Peduncles three-parted. 

 A middling-sized tree, very branching ; branches and tw'gs 

 alternate, round, dotted, smooth, tomentose at the ends, 

 spreading; leaves alternate, petioled, ovate, acuminate, 

 quite entire, paler underneath, scarce apparently villoM.-, 

 netted-nerved, smooth above, an inch or more in breadth, 

 from an inch to three inches in length, spreading ; petioles 

 semicylindric, subtomentose, half nn inch long ; flowers 

 axillary ; peduncles tomentose, half an inch in length ; pe- 

 dicels one-flowered, like the peduncles ; fruit a subglobose 

 pome, obscurely four-cornered, smooth, when unripe green, 

 when ripe yellow, truncate at the base, where the calix re- 

 mains, obtuse, with the stigma also permanent, eight- 

 valved, eight-celled, the size of a middling apple, having 

 nearly the taste of a sweet white plum, fleshy ; seeds half- 

 mooned, compressed at one edge, smooth, some of the cells 

 are occasionally barren. The fruit eaten plentifully occa- 

 sions a diarrhnea in the autumnal months. It is preserved 

 in the same manner as the fig, by sprinkling meal or sugar 

 over it. There is a variety of this species, in which the 

 leaves are oblong-ovate, acute, nerved, a finger's length ; 

 the petioles channelled ; pome ovate, very obtuse, yellow,, 

 with a soft astringent pulp like that of the orange, usually 

 eight-celled, sometimes ten-celled, but very seldom nine- 

 celled, the size of a pigeon's egg, and always barren. Na- 

 tive of Japan, China, and Cochin-china, with other parts 

 of the East Indies. It differs from the American sorts in 

 its branches, and the pubescence on the lower surface of the 

 leaves. 



4. Diospyros Hirsuta. Branches and leaves vtllose un- 

 derneath ; leaves elliptic, obtuse; flowers axillary, heaped, 

 sessile. Found by Thunberg, in Ceylon. 



