The Lady Slipper newsletter, and now blog, of the Kentucky Native Plant Society has been published since the Society’s founding in 1986. We occasionally feature an article from a past issue. In this article from 2007, Maggie Whitson discusses the botany of the American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana). This article ran in Vol. 22, No. 1. If you would like to see these and other past issues, visit the Lady Slipper Archives, where all issues from Vol. 1, February 1986 to Vol. 40, 2025, can be found.
The Pleasing Persimmon
by Maggie Whitson
With large orange fruit dangling from bare branches like Halloween ornaments, the American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana L.) puts on a striking late fall display along our fields and roadsides. The numerous sweet fruits were notable enough to find their way into the genus name, which means “fruit (-pyros) of the gods (dios).”
Persimmons are common in Kentucky and occur throughout the state. The species is found as far south as Florida and ranges up the Gulf Coast to Connecticut. It laps from the Southeast on to the Midwest and peters out around eastern Texas. Like many widespread plants, persimmons have a variety of common names, ranging from picturesque to puzzling. To list a few: dateplum, seeded-plum, winter-plum, simmon, lotus-tree, Jove’s fruit, and possum-wood.
Though the typical persimmon has a trunk ranging from about 6″ to 24″ in diameter, given optimum growing conditions and plenty of time, they can get much larger. Kentucky’s champion persimmon is located in Ballard County, and is 113.5 inches around, or about 36″ wide. The U.S. champion tree is in Portsmouth, Ohio, and is a whopping 142″ in circumference and 82 feet high.
Due to their deeply ridged bark which forms block-like plates, persimmons are easily recognized even in the leafless condition. The twigs are also distinctive, if only internally, as they often have diaphragmed piths. That is, when a twig is cut at an angle, its exposed center displays ladder-like divisions. Persimmon leaves are relatively nondescript, being simple, entire, alternate, and ovate. However, the undersides are often marked with fine black speckles (probably tannins).
While persimmons look similar throughout their range, they actually vary in chromosome number. A 60 chromosome race is common in the Southeast, while a 90 chromosome race is found throughout most of the Midwest. It is thought that there may also be a 30 chromosome race in southern Florida. These races do not readily hybridize with one another.
Persimmons bloom in May and June and are typically dioecious, with separate male and female trees. However, individuals capable of self-pollination are occasionally found, and sometimes a tree will produce flowers of both sexes one year and flowers of only one sex the next. The small, bell-shaped white flowers are eagerly pollinated by bees, and their industrious buzzing may be more obvious than the flowers, which are nearly invisible high up in the leafy branches. Persimmons belong to the Ebenaceae, or ebony family, which has only three genera. Diospyros is by far the largest, and with about 450 species single-handedly saves the family from obscurity. Most persimmon relatives are woody, and this pantropical group is well-represented on the Malay peninsula, in Africa and Madagascar, and in Central and South America. Interestingly, while people eat the fruit of many species in this genus, the few temperate species are the most famous fruit producers.
As a member of the ebony family, it is perhaps unsurprising that D. virginiana’s other claim to fame is its incredibly hard heartwood. In the Old World tropics, D. ebenum and D. reticulata are the best producers of ebony, though most species in the genus also produce hard, dark wood. Here in the U.S., the wood of D. virginiana was best known for its use in golf clubs, but was also used to produce other items such as tool handles, mallets, shuttles, and the lasts on which shoes were made and repaired. These days, synthetic materials are more commonly used for many of these products.
The Southwestern U.S. hosts our only other native Diospyros, the chapote, or D. texana. It has fuzzy, blackish fruit which are edible as well as being used as a source of natural dye. These shrubs or small trees range from Texas into northern Mexico, and like D. virginiana, the hard wood has been used locally for products requiring durability. The bark is smooth and attractively peeling, giving these plants potential value as ornamentals
In the temperate zones, there are three species of persimmons commonly eaten. The Asian persimmon, D. kaki, is widely cultivated in China and Japan and is now appearing more frequently in American supermarkets.
The date plum, D. lotus, is a similar species from Eurasia and has long been eaten in Europe. Finally, our own D. virginiana was particularly enjoyed by both the native Americans and early settlers. Persimmons are mentioned in the writings of early explorers such as Don Fernando de Soto and Captain John Smith. By 1626, many English gardens sported American persimmon trees. However, since fruits were most often simply harvested from wild trees, there are few improved varieties available today. Most of our native persimmons are cultivated for wood, as ornamentals, or as grafting stock for Asian persimmons.
Ripening throughout the Fall, the 1″-2″ fruits approach tangerine orange (or occasionally blackish-brown) upon maturity. They vary widely in shape, ranging from nearly round, to somewhat flattened, to long ovals. (One can see similar variation in cultivated Asian persimmons.) Shape aside, they’re all full of seeds. A single persimmon berry can contain up to eight, flat, woody seeds. At almost 1/2″ long by 1/3″ wide, the seeds themselves are quite large. During the shortages of the Civil War, Southerners supposedly drilled holes in them and used them as buttons. The large seeds don’t deter true fans from eating the ripe berries, which are a favorite of wildlife, hunters, children, livestock, and occasionally dogs
Though there is some interest in improving fruiting varieties of our native persimmon, only limited progress has been made. While ripe persimmons have a rich and intensely sweet flavor, even slightly unripe fruit are astringent with tannins, and will leave your mouth with an unpleasant, bitter, puckery feel — not unlike eating a very green banana. Though non-astringent Asian varieties have been bred, this breakthrough has not yet been achieved in the American persimmon. Thus, the fruit can only be harvested when dead ripe. In fact, the best persimmons are usually those that have just fallen from the tree. Since ripe persimmons are almost pudding-like in texture, they often split when they fall and certainly do not ship well. Persimmons are also generally flecked with dark tannin deposits, which doesn’t effect the flavor, but does make them look imperfect. Add all this to the relatively small fruit and large seeds, and American persimmons so far remain in the realm of home-garden curiosities, rather than commercial fruit production.
None-the-less, both the Indiana Nut Growers Association (INGA) and the North American Fruit Explorers have several webpages dedicated to American persimmons and the challenges involved in selecting quality fruiting cultivars. Jim Claypool of Illinois may be the most famous amateur persimmon breeder, and he amassed a collection of over 2,000 trees. When his health failed, INGA inherited much of his collection, which they continue to use for breeding work. The Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station also keeps a persimmon germplasm collection and has an orchard planted with 21 cultivars selected from Claypool’s trees.
Several mail-order nurseries carry American persimmon cultivars, including ‘Meader’, ‘Early Golden’, ‘Garretson’, ‘John Rick’, and ‘Prok’. More unusual are the hybrid varieties made by crossing American and Asian persimmons. The most common are ‘Nikita’s Gift’ and ‘Russian Beauty’, both of which were bred in the Ukraine. They have slightly larger fruit than the typical American persimmon while being much cold hardier than the Asian species. One Green World Nursery in Oregon and Raintree Nursery in Washington state both carry American cultivars, Asian cultivars, and the hybrids.
Not only can American persimmons be eaten fresh or dried, but they have been cooked in a variety of ways. Settlers commonly made persimmon puddings, bread, and preserves. In addition to eating the fruit, they fermented it and made persimmon beer, brandy, and wine. Today, there is still a limited market for frozen persimmon pulp, which can be used in anything from ice cream to cookies to cakes. Persimmons generally work well in recipes designed for pumpkin, and introducing 50% persimmon pulp into a pumpkin pie recipe is a simple and tasty way to enter the field of persimmon cookery.
While American persimmons may never surpass bananas, apples, and oranges at the supermarket, they are attractive, easily grown trees with a long and interesting history. A ripe persimmon makes a wonderful late fall treat, and is a ecologically friendly way to enjoy the woodland resources of our state. So next time you’re out enjoying the fall wildflowers, don’t miss the opportunity to admire the persimmons, as well.
SELECTED REFERENCES:
Anonymous. 2006. The story of James Claypool. Indiana Nut Growers Association website: www.nutgrowers.org/persimmon.htm Accessed 10/06.
American Forests. 2007. The National Register of Big Trees website: www.americanforests.org/resources/ bigtrees/ Accessed 03/07.
Baldwin, J. T. Jr. and R. Culp. 1941. Polyploidy in Diospyros Virginiana L. American Journal of Botany 28(10): 942-944.
Harrar E. S. and J. G. Harrar. 1962. Guide to southern trees. Dover Publications, Inc., New York. Heywood, V. H., editor. 1993. Flowering Plants of the World. Updated edition. Oxford University Press, New York.
Kentucky Division of Forestry. 2007. The Kentucky Big Tree Program website: http://www.forestry.ky.gov/programs/kybigtree/ Accessed 03/07.
Lehman, J. W. 2006. The American persimmon. North American Fruit Explorers website: www.nafex.org/ persimmon.htm. Accessed 10/06.
Medsger, O. P. 1973. Edible wild plants. 3rd printing. Macmillan Publishing Company, Inc., New York.
Spongberg, S. A. 1979. Notes on persimmons, kakis, date plums, and chapotes. Arnoldia 39 (5): 290-310.
Thomas, A. L. 2006. Persimmon research orchard and germplasm collection. Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station website: www.aes.missouri.edu/swcenter/ fieldday/2005/ page78.stm. Accessed 10/06.
Vines, R. A. 1977. Trees of East Texas. University of Texas Press, Austin.