YELLOW 293 



five feet high. It grows in dry woods from 



Maine and Minnesota south to Florida and 

 Louisiana. 



PERSIMMON. DATE PLUM 



Diospyros Virginiana Ebony Family 



Fruit. The fruit is plumlike in appearance, 

 but botanically is a berry, with sometimes as 

 many as eight large flat seeds. When green, it 

 is very astringent, and in the north needs the 

 action of the frost to make it sweet and deli- 

 cious. It then changes from a yellowish color 

 to a yellowish brown. The style is at the 

 summit, and the thick, four- to six-lobed calyx, 

 at the base. September, November. 



Leaves. The thickish leaves are dark green 

 above and paler beneath. They are nearly 

 smooth, ovate, pointed at the apex, and nar- 

 rowed or rounded at the base. 



Flowers. The flowers are usually dioecious. 

 The fertile ones are solitary and grow in the 

 axils, while the smaller sterile ones are in small 

 clusters. 



This tree is essentially southern, although it 



