EBENACEAE. — DIOSPYKOS 589 



Meyer in Bull. U. S. Dept. Agric. Bur. PI. Indust. CCIV. 10, with 

 plates and figs. {Agric. Explor. Orchards China) (1911). — Dunn & 

 Tutcher in Kew Bull. Misc. Inform, add. ser. X, 161 (Fl. Kwangtung 

 <Sc Hongk.) (1912). 



Diospyros chinensis Blume, Cat. Hort. Buifenz. 110 (nomen nudum) (1823). 

 Diospyros Schi-tse Bunge in Mem. Sav. Etr. Acad. Sci. St. Petersbourg, II. 116 



(Enum. PI. Chin. Bor. 42) (1835). 

 Ejnhryopteris Kaki G. Don, Gen. Syst. IV. 41 (1838). 

 Diospyros Kaki, ^ cordata A. De Candolle, Prodr. VIII. 229 (1844). 

 Diospyros costata Carriere in Rev. Hort. 1870, 131, 410, t. 

 Diospyros Kaki, var. costata Andre in III. Hort. XVIII. 176, t. 78 (1871). 

 Diospyros Roxburghii Carriere in Rev. Hort. 1872, 253, fig. 28-29. 

 Diospyros Mazeli Carriere, 1. c. 1874, 70, t. 

 Diospyros lycopersicon Carriere, I. c. 1878, 470, t. 

 Diospyros Kaempferi Naudin in Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, e^r. 2, 111. 22G, t. 



10 (1880). 

 Diospyros Aurantium. Andr4 in Rev. Hort. 1887, 349, t. 

 Diospyros Bertii Andre, 1. c. 1887, 349 t. 

 Diospyros elliptica Andre, 1. c. 1887, 349, t. 

 Diospyros Sahuti Andre, 1. c. 1887, 349, t. 



Diospyros Kaki, f. grandifolia Diels in Bot. Jahrb. XXIX. 527 (1900). 

 Diospyros Kaki, /3 domestica Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. XXII. 159 (1908). 



Western Hupeh: ChangyangHsien, alt. 1300 m., cultivated, May 

 and November 1907 (No. 472; tree 6-20 m. tall, 0.3-2 m., girth, fruit 

 ovoid, golden). Chili: near Peking, Yellow Temple, September 16, 

 1903, C. S. Sargent. Fokien: Dunn's Exped. April to June, 1905 

 (Herb. Bot. Gard. Hongkong No. 2912). 



This fruit tree ie generally cultivated all over China and from there has 

 been introduced to Korea, Japan and other countries. The varieties are as numerous 

 as those of the apple and pear in western lands. The fruits differ in size, 

 shape, season of ripening, and in quantity or absence of seeds and in degree of as- 

 tringency. In central and western China the fruit is not considered edible until 

 dead ripe and bletted, but in Japan there are varieties which have flesh firm 

 as in an apple and which eaten in early October are not astringent. In Japan, 

 where this tree has been long cultivated, many different varieties have origniated 

 and some are equal to the best of the Chinese varieties, but on the whole the 

 persimmons of Japan are smaller than those of China, which are more or 

 less ovoid and obtuse, flattened, round and depressed forms being much lesa 

 common. 



In China and also in Japan this tree is usually grafted on Diospyros Lottis and 

 the point of union of scion and stock is clearly indicated by the difference between 

 the barks. In D. kaki it is pale gray and scales off, whereas in D. Lotus it is dark in 

 color, deeply ridged and persistent. 



In D. kaki individual trees bear purely male or female flowers, and others 

 bear both male and female flowers on the same individual. The flowers vary 

 greatly in size, and the calyx is extremely variable. So different are the male and 

 female flowers in appearance and size that they appear to belong to different spe- 



