626 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaves oblong, acuminate, downy beneath ; leaf buds hairy 
inside. Flowers small, reddish white. Fruit size of a cherry, yellow when 
ripe, sweet with astringency: it is recommended as a cure for diarrhea. 
(Don’s Mill.) _ A low tree. Caucasus, the woods of Hyrcania, and the 
whole coast of the Caspian Sea, and Mauritania. Height 20 ft. to 30 ft., 
and sometimes much higher. Introduced in 1596. Flowers reddish, or 
yellowish white ; July. Fruit yellow ; ripe in October. 
The leaves are of a beautiful dark glossy green above, and, when mature, 
and exposed to the air, assume a purplish hue beneath: they do not change 
colour in autumn, but drop off simultaneously with the first attack of sharp 
frost. Ripening its fruit freely in the South of France and Italy, seeds have 
been readily procured ; and the plant has never been rare in British collec- 
tions ; but, as it is somewhat tender, there are few la ge specimens of it. It 
grows at the rate of 12 or 18 inches a year, for the first ten years, especially if 
the soil in which it is planted is free and loamy, and rich rather than poor. 
# 2. D. vireinia‘na L. The Virginian Date Plum, or Persimon. 
Identification. Lin. Sp., 1510.; Don’s Mill., 4. p. 39. 
Synonyme. Guaiacdna Catesb. Car. 2. t. 76. 
Engravings. Dendr. Brit., t. 146. ; the plates in Arb. Brit., Ist edit. ; and our fig. 1215. 
1215. D. virginiana. 
Spec. Char., §&c. Leaves ovate-oblong, acuminated, glabrous, shining above, 
