DIOSPYROS PERSIMMON. 199 



Preparations. — Administered in powder or infusion. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — Holly has been much more used in 

 Europe than in this country. Its bitterness led to its use in intermittent 

 fever, but careful observation has proved it worthless in this disease. In 

 large doses the leaves produce nausea and vomiting, while the berries, ad- 

 ministered in like manner, cause both vomiting and purging. Possessing 

 such irritating properties, they ir)ay, of course, be used in such manner as 

 to cause diaphoresis, and hence probably their asserted efficacy in rheu- 

 matism. I. opaca is said to be somewhat demulcent, and has been used in 

 pulmonary affections to allay cough and promote expectoration. I. cassine 

 is said to be used considerably in the South as a substitute for tea ; as it 

 contains caffeina, its use in this manner is much more rational than that of 

 several other plants which have nothing in their composition analogous to 

 the constituents of tea. 



EBENACE/E. 



Character of the Order. — Trees or shrubs with alternate entire leaves, 

 and dioecious or polygamous, regular flowers. Calyx persistent, foliaceous. 

 Corolla monopetalous, hypogynous.* Stamens at least twice or thrice as 

 many as the lobes of the corolla, and inserted on its tube or base. Ovary 

 several-celled, with one or two ovules in each cell. Fruit a berry, matur- 

 ing in one or more bony-coated seeds. 



A small order, comprising 15 genera and 180 species, chiefly tropical. 

 Represented in North America by the genus 



DIOSPYROS. —Persimmon. 



Diospyros Virginiana Linne. — Persimmon, Date Plum. 



Description. — Calyx 4-lobed, increasing in size with the development of 

 the fruit. Corolla 4-lobed, between bell-shaped and urn-shaped, greenish- 

 yellow, thickish, glabrous. Stamens 16, in pairs, pubescent ; the sterile 

 ones of the fertile flowers 8. Ovary 8-celled ; styles 4, 2-lobed at the 

 apex. Fruit plum-like, 1 inch in diameter, 4- to 8-seeded. Yellow when 

 ripe. 



A tree 20 to 70 feet high. Leaves 2 to 5 inches lon£>', ovate or oblong, 

 more or less pubescent when young, at length nearly or quite smooth. 

 Fertile flowers commonly solitary in the axils ; sterile ones in threes. 

 Fruit exceedingly astringent while green, but when ripe, after frost, very 

 sweet and luscious. 



Habitat. — In woods and old fields from Rhode Island to Iowa, and 

 southward. East of the Alleghanies it is most common along the coast. 



Part Used. — The unripe fruit, It was formerly official, but was dropped 

 from the Pharmacopoeia in 1880. The bark is also employed. 



Constituents. — Tannic and malic acids, sugar and pectin. 



