PERSIMMON 



In respect to the power of making heartwood, the Locust 

 and the Persimmon stand at the extreme opposite ends of 

 the list. The Locust changes its sapwood into heartwood 

 almost at once, while the Persimmon rarely develops any 

 heartwood until it is nearly one hundred years old. This 

 heartwood is extremely close-grained and almost black. 

 Really, it is ebony, but our climate is not favorable to its 

 production. The ebony of commerce is derived from five 

 different tropical species of the genus, two from India, one 

 from Africa, one from Malaya and one from Mauritius. The 

 beautiful variegated coromandel wood is the product of a 

 species found in Ceylon. 



Although Diospyros is now pre-eminently a tropical tree, 

 enduring but indifferently the cold of the temperate regions, 

 its fossil remains are found in the miocene rocks of Green- 

 land and Alaska and in the cretaceous formation of Ne- 

 braska. 



199 



