EBONY FAMILY 



persistent calyx. It ripens in late autumn, 5s pale orange 

 with a red cheek, often covered with a slight glaucous bloom. 

 One of the delights of the natives 

 in the south is to induce, strangers 

 to taste this fruit, for its bitter as- 

 tringency is something that can be 

 known only by experience. The 

 frost is required to make it edible, 

 but having been subjected to this 

 influence it becomes sweet, juicy 

 and delicious. This peculiar as- 

 tringency is due to the presence of 



Fruit of the Persimmon, Diospy- . 



ros -virginiana. 3. tannin similar to that of Cinchona. 



The fruit is much appreciated in the 



southern states and appears abundantly in the markets. It is 

 much sought by the opossum, who is supposed to fatten upon 

 it, and the combination of persimmon, opossum and negro 

 was very common in the slave songs of ante-bellum days. 



The tree is greatly inclined to vary in the character and 

 quality of its fruit, in size this varies from that of a small 

 cherry to a small apple. Some trees in the south produce 

 fruit which is delicious without the action of the frost, while 

 adjoining trees produce fruit that never becomes edible. 



Several varieties of the species, Diospyros Kaki have been 

 cultivated in China and Japan from most ancient times. In- 

 deed this seems to be the universally cultivated fruit tree of 

 Japan, is there found in every garden and by every cottage. 

 The Japanese horticulturists have developed it into almost 

 as many varieties as our gardeners have made of the apple 

 tree. Some of these have been introduced into California 

 and are said to flourish there. The California persimmon 

 often offered for sale in our northern markets is the product 

 of this Japanese tree. 



The Persimmon is very common in the southern and Gulf 

 states, and because of its stolomferous roots frequently 

 makes extensive thickets in abandoned fields and along the 

 roadsides and fences. 



108 



