520 AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



The seeds of persimmon furnished one of the early substitutes for 

 coffee in backwoods settlements when the genuine article could not be 

 obtained. They were parched and pounded until sufficiently pulverized. 

 During the Civil war many a confederate camp in the South was fra- 

 grant with the aroma of persimmon seed coffee, after the soldiers had 

 added the fruit to their rations of cornbread. 



MEXICAN PERSIMMON (Dibspyros texana) grows in Texas and 

 Mexico. It is most abundant in southern and western Texas, where it 

 suits itself to different soils, is found on rich moist ground near the borders 

 of prairies, and also in rocky canyons and dry mesas. The largest trees 

 are fifty feet high and twenty inches in diameter, but trunks that large 

 are not abundant. The tree differs from the eastern persimmon in that 

 the sapwood is thinner, and the heartwood makes up a much greater 

 proportion of the trunk; the uses are consequently different, since it is 

 taken for its dark wood, the eastern tree for its light-colored sap. The 

 fruit of the Mexican persimmon is little esteemed. It is small, black, 

 and the thin layer of pulp between the skin and the seed is insipid. 

 Until fully ripe it is exceedingly austere. The Mexicans in the Rio 

 Grande valley make a dye of the persimmons and use it to color sheep 

 skins. The fruit's supply of tannin probably contributes to the tanning 

 as well as the dyeing of the sheep pelts. The wood is heavier than 

 eastern persimmon, and has more than three fold more ashes in a cord of 

 wood, amounting to about 160 pounds. The bark is thin and the trunk 

 gnarled. The dark color of the wood gives it the name black persim- 

 mon in Texas. Mexicans call it chapote. Sargent pronounces it the 

 best American substitute for boxwood for engraving purposes, but it 

 does not appear to be used outside of Texas. The wood is irregular in 

 color, even in the same piece, being variegated with lighter and darker 

 streaks, and cloudy effects. It ought to be fine brush-back material. 

 It is worked into tool handles, lodge furniture, canes, rules, pen holders, 

 picture frames, curtain rings, door knobs, parasol handles, and maul 

 sticks for artists. 



