UTILIZATION OF DOGWOOD AND PERSIMMON 5 
eye. When belladonna is used to enlarge the pupil the eye does not 
resume its normal condition for a period of 24 to 48 hours, whereas 
dogwood extract permits the eye to resume its normal condition in 
about 2 hours. Very small quantities of the root bark of the domestic 
dogwood are still used for medicinal purposes. About 15 tons of 
the so-called Jamaica dogwood (Ichthyomethia piscipula), which 
is found in the West Indies, particularly the Bahamas, and southern 
Florida, and is sometimes confused with our native dogwood, is used 
Fig. 3. — The trunk of a commercially valuable dogwood with characteristic hark — 
note defect at top 
annually in the United States for medicinal purposes. The extract 
made from flowering dogwood roots was formerly used by Indians 
as a scarlet dye for blankets, feathers, and belts. 
PERSIMMON 
Of the 160 or more species of Diospyros only 2 are found in the 
United States, and only 1 of them is at present commercially im- 
portant. This is the commonly called "persimmon tree," "date 
plum," " simmon," or " possum wood." It is also often called Ameri- 
can ebony, because it happens to be a member of the ebony genus, 
