EBENACEjE. 435 



pints of water, boiled down to a quart, of which a gill is to be taken every 

 two hours. It has also been employed in a saturated tincture, made from 

 the bark or berries, or both combined. 



Order 67.— EBENACE^E.— Ventenat. 



Flowers often dioecious, rarely sub-hermaphrodite. Calyx monopetalous, 3 — 7-lobed, 

 persistent. Corolla monopetalous, 3 — 7-lobed, deciduous, regular, sericeous. Stamens 

 variously inserted, twice to four times as many as the lobes of the corolla, unequal. Fi- 

 laments short. Anthers free, introrse, 2-celled, dehiscing 1 longitudinally. Ovary free, 

 3 — 12-celled, usually hispid. Styles usually with as many divisions as cells in ovary. 

 Stigmas small, terminating the styles or the divisions of style. Fruit a berry, 3 to many- 

 celled and seeded; or, by abortion, 1 -celled and 1-seeded. Seed usually compressed late- 

 rally, with a coriaceous testa. 



A small order, consisting of trees and shrubs, often with a dark-coloured 

 wood, most common to tropical regions, but not wholly wanting in cold cli- 

 mates. The leaves are alternate, entire, exstipulate, and on short petioles. 

 The flowers are in axillary, rarely terminal cymes. Juice not lactescent. 

 The species are principally remarkable for the hardness of their wood, and 

 for the edible character of their fruit. The Euclea undulata affords a sac- 

 charine berry, which is eaten by the natives of South Africa, and a kind of 

 wine made from its juice (Thunberg, Voy., i. 253). 



Diospyros. — Linn. 



Dioecious. Sterile flowers. Calyx 4 — 6-cleft. Corolla urceolate, 4 — 6-cleft. Stamens 

 8 — 16. Filaments often with 2 anthers. Fertile flowers, calyx and corolla as in male. 

 Stigmas 4 — 5. Fruit 8 — 12-seeded. 



A large genus, most of the species which are peculiar to the East Indies, 

 consisting of trees and shrubs, with alternate, very entire leaves, and axillary, 

 subsessile flowers; the female furnished with sterile stamens. Their general 

 medicinal quality, as far as known, is astringency, which is very strongly 

 marked in the species found in this country. 



D. virginiana, Linn. — Leaves elliptical, obtusely-acuminate. Petiole and nervures 

 pubescent. Racemes axillary, 1 — 3-flowered. Pedicels short, and with the calyx pu- 

 bescent. Calyx 4-parted, lobes lanceolate. Corolla campanulate, glabrous, 4-cleft, lobes 

 rounded. 



Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 1510; Torrey, Compend. 375; Rafinesque, Med. FL, 

 i. 153 ; Michaux, N A. Syl, ii. 219. 



Common Names. — Persimmon; Yellow Plum; Date Plum. 

 Foreign Name. — Plaqueminier, Fr. 



Description. — A tree from 20 to 60 feet in height, with a rugged, blackish bark, and 

 alternate, spreading branches. The leaves are oval or oblong, acuminate, with an.entire 

 margin, smooth and shining above, and whitish or paler and reticulated beneath, sup- 

 ported on short, pubescent petioles. The flowers are lateral, axillary, mostly solitary, 

 nearly sessile, or on a very short peduncle. The calyx is spreading, persistent, usually 4, 

 but sometimes 5 or 6-parted. Segments lanceolate, shorter than the corolla, which is 

 yellowish, and has as many segments as the calyx. Sterile and fertile flowers usually 

 on different trees, but sometimes a perfect flower occurs, in which the stamina are double 

 the number of the segments of the calyx, and the stigmas equal to these segments. The 

 filaments are short, free, or inserted on the calyx, with bilobate anthers. The ovary is 

 globular, supporting a very short style, with obtuse, spreading stigmas. The fruit is 

 a round, dark-yellow, or orange berry, containing a fleshy, eatable pulp, and many com 

 pressed, hard seeds. 



