EBONY FAMILY 



EBENACEiE Ventenat 



]HE Ebony Family is composed of some 275 species of trees and shrubs, 

 grouped into 6 or 7 genera; they are widely distributed in tropical 

 regions, a few only occurring in the temperate zones. Their wood is 

 very hard, often susceptible of a high polish; the bark is astringent. 

 The alternate simple entire- margined leaves are stalked but without stipules; the 

 flowers are mostly dioecious, borne solitary or in cymes; the 3-lobed to 7-lobed 

 persistent calyx is inferior, free from the ovary, enlarging with the fruit ; the gamo- 

 petalous corolla has from 3 to 7 lobes; the stamens are from twice as many to 

 four times as many as the corolla-lobes in the sterile flowers, adnate to the corolla- 

 tube, their filaments short, their anthers introrsc; the fertile flowers have a several- 

 celled ovary with from i to 3 ovules in each cavity, 2 to 8 styles, somewhat united 

 at the base or separate, and simple or 2-cleft stigmas, also usually some imperfect 

 stamens. The fruit is a berry, containing several seeds, or only one; seed with 

 much endosperm. Our genera are: 



Styles distinct; filaments hairy; anthers opening lengthwise; pistillate flowers 



with staminodes. i. Diospyros. 



Styles united; filaments smooth; anthers opening near the top; pistillate 

 flowers without staminodes. 2. Brayodendron. 



I. PERSIMMON 



GENUS DIOSPYROS LINN^US 

 Species Diospyros virginiana Linnaeus 



lOSPYROS, of which D. Lotus 

 Linnaeus, of temperate Asia, is 

 the type (Greek, Zeus-wheat), 

 comprises 160 species or more, 

 mostly trees, more abundant in tropical Asia 

 than anywhere else. Our Persimmon, 

 known also as Simmon-tree, Date-plum, 

 and Possum-wood, is its only North Ameri- 

 can representative. It grows in woods, 

 preferring dry soil, from Rhode Island to 

 southern New York, Iowa, Kansas, Florida, 



78s 



Fig. 716. — Persimmon. 



