Publication
from Agroforestree Database: a tree reference and selection guide
version 4.0
by C. Orwa, A. Mutua, R. Kindt, R. Jamnadass and S. Anthony
Diospyros
virginiana L.
Local Names:
English (Florida persimmon, eastern persimmon, possumwood, simmon,
persimmon, common persimmon)
Family:
Ebenaceae
Botanic
Description
Diospyros
viginiana is
a slow-growing deciduous tree; rarely exceeding 15 m in height but in
optimum habitats may reach a height of 21-24 m and a diameter of 51-61
cm. It is usually upright or drooping with a rounded or conical crown.
In forest stands the stem may be straight, tall, and slender. Stems may
be clumped, either because seedlings develop in close proximity to one
another or because they arise from suckers after a tree has been cut
down. Leaves alternate, simple, oblong to oval, 10-15 cm long,
pinnately-veined, margin entire, lustrous green above and paler or
whitened and pubescent below.
Flowers dioecious, greenish-white
and inconspicuous, each tree having only staminate or pistillate
flowers borne on shoots of the current year. The female flowers
solitary, sessile and urn-shaped with a fragrant corolla with 4 or 5
thick recurved lobes, about 1.9 cm long. Male flowers in two or
three-flowered cymes, tubular, 8-13 mm long.
Fruit plum-like
(spherical) berry, green before ripening, turning orange to black or
dark red when ripe, up to 5 cm in diameter with leafy bracts on top,
only on female trees. The fruit is very astringent and mouth numbing
when green, but deliciously sweet and edible when fully ripe. Each
berry usually contains one to eight flat, brown seeds about 13 mm long
but is sometimes seedless.
Twig slender, light brown to gray,
maybe scabrous or pubescent; no true terminal bud and twig scar often
very prominent, buds are dark red to black with 2 bud scales,
triangular in shape, appressed; leaf scar has one, oval vascular bundle
trace.
Bark gray-brown when young with orange in fissures, later
becomes much darker, breaking up into square scaly thick plates;
similar to charcoal briquettes. The bark on older trunks is black and
broken up into distinctive, regular square blocks.
Biology
Flowers appear in
late spring and early summer, from March to June within its botanical
range and from April through May in areas where it grows best. It is
cross-pollinated by insects and wind. Fruit matures in mid to late fall
(September to November) or occasionally a little earlier.
Fruit
bearing tends to be biennal with the optimum fruit-bearing age being
25-50 years, but 10-year-old trees sometimes bear fruit. Good crops are
borne about every 2 years under normal conditions.
The seed is
disseminated by birds and animals that feed on the fruits, and, to some
extent, by overflow water in low bottom lands. The seeds remain dormant
during winter and germinate in April or May, after about a month of
soil temperatures above 15° C.
Ecology
Occurs in rocky or
dry open woods, limestone glades, prairies, thickets, abandoned fields,
and along roadsides and fences and on most soil types from sands to
shales and mud bottomlands. It is well adapted to an environment of
high insolation and low water supply. It is often the first tree
species to start growth on abandoned and denuded cropland but grows
best on terraces of large streams and river bottoms, bottomland swamps
and upland forests.
Common associates are elms (Ulmus
spp.), eastern redcedar (Juniperus
virginiana), hickories (Carya spp.), sugar
maple (Acer saccharum),
yellow-poplar (Liriodendron
tulipifera), oaks Quercus
spp.), boxelder (Acer
negundo), red maple (A.
rubrum), sycamore (Platanus
occidentalis), and cedar elm (Ulmus crassifolia).
Common shrub and noncommercial tree associates include swamp-privet (Forestiera acuminata),
roughleaf dogwood (Cornus
drummondii), hawthorns (Crataegus spp.),
water-elm (Planera
aquatica), shining sumac (Rhus copallina),
and smooth sumac (R.
glabra).
Biophysical
Limits
Altitude: up to 1200 m
Temperature:
average maximum temperatures are 35° C in the summer and -12° C in the
winter. Prefers full sun, but also does well in partial sun (shade
tolerant).
Rainfall: an average of 1220 mm, about 460 mm of
which occurs during the growing season. Highly adaptable, tolerates
drought and even brief flooding.
Soil type: thrives on almost
any type of soil but grows best on alluvial soils such as clays and
heavy loams, well-drained with neutral pH. Most frequent on soils of
the orders alfisols, ultisols, entisols, and inceptisols.
Documented
Species Distribution
Native:
United States of America
The
map above shows countries where the species has been planted. It does
neither suggest that the species can be planted in every ecological
zone within that country, nor that the species can not be planted in
other countries than those depicted. Since some tree species are
invasive, you need to follow biosafety procedures that apply to your
planting site.
Products
Food:
Persimmon fruit is edible
raw, cooked or dried and used in breads, cakes, pies, puddings and is
sometimes used in making wine. The dried, roasted, ground seeds have
been used as a substitute for coffee. A tea made from dried leaves is
high in vitamin C and has a pleasant flavour somewhat like sassafras.
An oil obtained from the seeds is said to taste like peanut oil.
Molasses can be made from the fruit pulp. Persimmon flowers are useful
in the production of honey.
Fodder:
In Indiana and Ohio,
the leaves and twigs of persimmon are an important supplementary fall
and winter food for white-tailed deer. The fruit is an important food
for squirrel, fox, coyote, raccoon, opossum, and quail, wild turkeys,
bobwhite, crows, rabbits, hogs and cattle.
Timber:
The heavy, hard,
strong, smooth and very close grained wood is particularly desirable
for turnery, plane stocks, veneer, shoe lasts, shuttles for textile
weaving, and golf club heads and occasionally low-grade lumber.
Tannin or
dyestuff: An indelible ink is made from fruit.
Poison:
Juice of small,
inedible wild fruits, crushed whole, calyx, seeds and all, is diluted
with water and painted on paper or cloth as an insect- and
moisture-repellent.
Medicine:
The inner bark and
unripe fruit are sometimes used in treatment of fevers, diarrhea, and
hemorrhage and as a mouth rinse in the treatment of thrush and sore
throats and as a wash for warts or cancers. A decoction of the boiled
unripe fruit is used to treat bloody stools. The leaves are rich in
vitamin C and are used as an antiscorbutic.
Alcohol:
Fruit may be converted into molasses, cider, beer and wine.
Services
Ornamental: Persimmon
is valued for landscaping because of its hardiness, adaptability to a
wide range of soils and climates, its lustrous leathery leaves,
interesting bark, its abundant crop of fruits, and its immunity from
disease and insects
Erosion
control: The tree is suitable for erosion control on deeper soils
because of its deep root system, but this same characteristic makes it
difficult to plant.
Shade or shelter: when allowed to become
shrub-like, the multiple stemmed plants can be used for a large border
shrub or as an accent plant.
Tree
Management
For best
growth, trees should be spaced at about 6 x 6 m. Persimmon can be
pruned to an open center or modified central leader. Fruits can be
thinned during the heavy years, to stimulate production in the lean
years, by removing half or more of the developing fruit within a month
after bloom.
Young trees are pruned back to 0.7-0.9 m when
planted and later the new shoots are thinned with a view to forming a
well-shaped tree. Annual pruning during the first 4-5 winters is
desirable in some cultivars. If a tree tends to overbear and shows
signs of decline, it should be drastically cut back to give it a fresh
start. After flowering, the trees should be irrigated every 3 weeks on
light soil, every month on heavier soil, until time for harvest. The
annual yield of a young tree ranges from 22.6-40.8 kg; of a full-grown
tree, 150-250 kg.
In
home garden situations, the trees can be grown as multiple stem plants
and are quite attractive, especially where unusual bark patterns are
desired.
Germplasm
Management
Seeds
should be kept for 2-3 months at 10° C under moist conditions then
soaked for 2-3 days before planting in shallow drills in light soils
with plenty of humus and covered to a depth of about 13 mm; or may be
planted in the fall and permitted to stratify naturally in the ground
over winter. Germination should be in 1-6 months. The seed bed should
be mulched. Seedlings should be planted out in early summer and given
some protection from winter cold for their first winter or two outdoors.
Cleft grafting is preferred on larger stock and for top-working old
trees. In India, cleft-grafting on stem has been 88.9% successful, low
germination rates of planted seeds has been traced to dry rot caused by
Penicillium
sp. It can be controlled by pretreatment with an
appropriate fungicide.
Pests and
Diseases
A number of insects attack persimmon but normally do no serious harm.
Borers: Agrilus
fuscipennis (bark and phloem); Sannina uroceriformis
(stems and taproots) of young trees and nursery stock.
Defoliators: Principal defoliators are webworm (Seiarctica echo)
and the hickory horned devil (Citheronia
regalis) may defoliate the trees in early summer and into
mid summer.
Girdlers: The twig girdler (Oncideres
cingulata)
retards growth by cutting off smaller branches. The wood of dying and
dead trees is often riddled by the false powderpost beetle (Xylobiops basilaris).
The fungus Cephalosporium
diospyri
causes persimmon wilt, a disease that kills many trees in central
Tennessee and the Southeastern States. The disease is characterized by
a sudden wilting of the leaves, followed by defoliation and death of
the branches from the top down. An infected tree often lives 1 or 2
years after this symptom appears.
Diseased trees should be burned, and cuts and bruises on other trees
should be painted to prevent entry by windborne spores.
Further
Reading
Bean W. 1981. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and
Supplement. Murray.
Bovey
RW. 1977. Response of selected woody plants in the United Chittendon
F.1951. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford
University Press.
Christensen NL. 1988. Vegetation of the southeastern Coastal Plain. In:
Barbour, Michael G.; Billings, William Dwight,
eds. North American terrestrial vegetation. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Crandall BS & Baker WL. 1950. The wilt disease of American
persimmon caused by Cephalosporium
diospyri. Phytopathology.
Dirr MA. & Heuser MW. 1987. The Reference Manual of Woody Plant
Propagation. Athens Ga. Varsity Press.
Duncan WH.; Duncan MB. 1988. Trees of the southeastern United States.
Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press.
Eyre FH (ed.). 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and
Canada. Society of American Foresters. Washington, DC.
Facciola S. 1990. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong
Publications. Vista, CA.
Fernald ML. 1950. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. New York.
Foster S. & Duke. JA. 1990. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants.
Eastern and Central N. America. Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston.
Garrison
GA. et al.1977. Vegetation and environmental features of forest and
range ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service.
Glasgow LL. 1977. Common persimmon. In,
Southern fruit-producing woody plants used by wildlife. USDA Forest
Service, General Report SO-16. Southern Forest Experiment Station, New
Orleans, LA.
Godfrey RK. 1988. Trees, shrubs, and woody vines of
northern Florida and adjacent Georgia and Alabama. Athens, GA: The
University of Georgia Press.
Halls LK. 1990. Diospyros
virginiana
L. common persimmon. In: Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H.,
technical coordinators. Silvics of North America. Vol. 2. Hardwoods.
Agric. Handb. 654. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Forest Service.
Hedrick UP. 1972. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover
Publications Inc. New York.
Huxley A. 1992. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan
Press. London.
Jackson LWR. 1952. Radial growth of forest trees in the Georgia
Piedmont. Ecology.
Kucera CL.; Martin SC. 1957. Vegetation and soil relationships in the
glade region of the southwestern Missouri Ozarks. Ecology.
Kunkel G. 1984. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books.
Rosendahl, CO 1955.
Little
EL. Jr. 1979. Checklist of United States trees (native and
naturalized). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Handbook 541.
Washington, DC.
McDaniel JC. 1973. Persimmon cultivars for northern areas. Fruit
Varieties Journal.
Morris RC. 1965. Common persimmon (Diospyros
virginiana L.). In Silvics of forest trees of the United
States. H. A.
Fowells, comp. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Handbook
271. Washington, DC.
Newling
CJ. 1990. Restoration of bottomland hardwood forests in the lower
Mississippi Valley. Restoration & Management Notes.
Nixon CM, McClain, MW.; Russell KR. 1970. Deer food habits and range
characteristics in Ohio. Journal of Wildlife Management.
Olson DF Jr., Barnes RL. 1974. Diospyros
virginiana
L. common persimmon. In: Schopmeyer, C. S., technical coordinator.
Seeds of woody plants in the United States. Agric. Handb. 450.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.
Radford
AE.; Ahles HE.; Bell CR. 1968. Manual of the vascular flora of the
Carolinas. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.
Sargent CS. 1965. Manual of the Trees of N. America. Dover Publications
Inc. New York.
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