VOL. ii.] 



EBONY FAMILY. 



597 



i. Diospyros Virginiana L,. 

 Persimmon. Date-Plum. (Fig. 2831.) 



Diospyros Virginiana L- Sp. PI. 1057. 1753. 



A tree with maximum height of about 100 

 and trunk diameter of 2, usually much smaller; 

 bark hard, dark, furrowed. Leaves ovate or 

 oval, deciduous, pubescent when young, becom- 

 ing glabrous, acute or acuminate, narrowed, 

 rounded or subcordate at the base, dark green 

 above, pale beneath, *'-$' long; petioles 3 // -io // 

 long, loosely jointed with the twigs, the leaves 

 falling away in drying; flowers mostly 4-parted; 

 corolla greenish yellow; stamens of the sterile 

 flowers about 16, those of the pistillate 8 or 

 fewer; fruit globose, about i' long, reddish yel- 

 low and sweet when ripe, astringent when 

 green, ripening after frost in the northern states. 



In fields and woods, Rhode Island and southern 

 New York to Kansas, Florida and Texas. Wood 

 hard, strong, dark brown; weight per cubic foot 49 

 Ibs. May-June. Fruit ripe Sept.-Nov. 



Family u. SYMPLOCACEAE Miers; Lindl. Veg. Kingd. Ed. 3, 593. 1853. 



SWEET-LEAF FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs, with entire or dentate broad leaves, and small or middle- 

 sized regular mostly yellow and perfect flowers, in lateral or axillary clusters. 

 Calyx-tube completely or partly adnate to the ovary, its limb 5-lobed, the lobes 

 imbricated in the bud. Corolla 5-parted, sometimes very nearly to the base, 

 the segments imbricated. Disk none. Stamens numerous in several series, in- 

 serted on the base or tube of the corolla; filaments filiform, usually slightly 

 united in clusters at the base of each corolla-segment; anthers innate, laterally 

 dehiscent. Ovary 2-5-celled, inferior or partly superior; ovules commonly 2 in 

 each cavity, pendulous; style and stigma one. Fruit a small mostly nearly dry 

 drupe, usually with i oblong seed; embryo straight; endosperm fleshy. 



Only the following genus, comprising about 175 species, natives of America, Asia and Austral- 

 asia, most abundant in South America. The following is the only known North American species. 



i. SYMPLOCOS L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 747. 1763. 

 Characters of the family. [Greek, connected, referring to the stamens.] 



i. Symplocos tinctoria (L,.) I/Her. Sweet-leaf. Horse-sugar. (Fig. 2832.) 



Hofiea tinctoria L. Mant. 105. 1767. 



5". tincloria L'Her. Trans. Linn. Soc. i: 176. 1791. 



A shrub or small tree, sometimes attaining 

 a height of 35 and a trunk diameter of 9'. 

 Leaves rather coriaceous, oblong or slightly 

 obovate, acute or acuminate at both ends, 

 crenate-serrate with low teeth or repand, 

 short-petioled, puberulent or pubescent on 

 both sides when young, glabrous or nearly 

 so above and dark green when old, pale and 

 persistently pubescent beneath, 3 / -6 / long, 

 i '-3' wide, deciduous at the northern range 

 of the species, persistent at the south, turning 

 yellowish-green in drying; flowers bright yel- 

 low, fragrant, 4 // -6 // broad, in sessile scaly- 

 bracted clusters, appearing at the North be- 

 fore the leaves; corolla almost polypetalous, 

 its segments oblong, obtuse, each bearing a 

 cluster of stamens; drupe dry, nut-like, ob- 

 long, 3 // -6 // long, pubescent, crowned with 

 the small calyx lobes. 



Woods and thickets, Delaware to Florida and 

 Louisiana. Wood soft, weak, pale red or white; 

 weight per cubic foot 33 Ibs. March-April. 



