A MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF DIOSPYROS 
VIRGINIANA 
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE HULL BOTANICAL LABORATORY 145 
STELLA M. HAGUE 
(WITH PLATES I-III) 
Diospyros virginiana, the northernmost representative of the 
tropical family Ebenaceae, grows abundantly in the southern 
states and as far north as the southern part of Illinois and Indiana. 
Cultivated trees are found also in the extreme northern part of 
those states. No report of any morphological work upon this 
family has been found, except a brief paper on “The seedless per- 
simmon”’ in the report of the Proceedings of the Indiana Academy 
of Science for 1908. The material for this investigation was col- 
lected in 1906 and 1908 from cultivated trees at Decatur (Illinois), 
and from native trees near Springfield (Missouri), Topeka (Kan- 
sas), and Memphis (Tennessee). 
Floral development 
The winter buds are composed of numerous tough hairy scales 
enveloping a very rudimentary shoot. The flower buds develop 
upon this shoot during its rapid growth in the spring. At Decatur, 
in 1906, the buds began to swell and to become green the latter part 
of April. Young shoots gathered the first week in May bore flower 
buds in the early stages of development. On May 30 the shoots 
were 20 cm. or more long and the flowers were beginning to 
open. _ 
So far as the trees from which material was collected were 
observed, they were dioecious and bore only imperfect flowers. 
One possible exception has been found recently. Near Auburn 
(Indiana) there is a cluster of staminate trees, originating appar- 
ently from one tree, that are reported to have borne fruit occa- 
sionally. The flowers were carefully examined in the spring of 
1gto, and no variations from the regular staminate type were 
found. Unless a pistillate tree has been cut away, it seems prob- 
Botanical Gazette, vol. 52] (34 
