Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Ericales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Diospyros virginiana
FAMILY
Ebenaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
You may also want to check Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina
Read more about American Persimmon at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
Persimmons are famous for their sweet and edible fruits, and infamous for the bitter-astringency of the not fully ripe fruit. The wood is one of the heaviest and hardest in e. North America. ID Notes: Seedlings and fire sprouts of Diospyros virginiana are superficially very similar to Nyssa sylvatica, but can be distinguished... Read how in Weakley's Flora (2023).
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Diospyros virginiana
FAMILY
Ebenaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Diospyros virginiana
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 8 (2009)
Diospyros virginiana
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Diospyros virginiana
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 150-01-001:
Diospyros virginiana FAMILY Ebenaceae
INCLUDING Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Diospyros mosieri
INCLUDING Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Diospyros virginiana
COMMON NAME:
American Persimmon, Possumwood, Simmon
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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Trees You Want to Know (Peattie, 1934); illustration by F.A. Michaux dcp34_p46a
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JK Marlow jkm191222_2370_d_virginia
Clay County AL
Cheaha State Park
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Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905) mtna_i_853
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_divi5_001_lvd
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide pnd_divi5_009_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm090125_042
January Greenville County SC
Paris Mountain State Park
)
JK Marlow jkm090125_051
January Greenville County SC
Paris Mountain State Park
Three to eight large seeds per berry, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm090125_053
January Greenville County SC
Paris Mountain State Park
Bark thick, deeply furrowed into distinctive square, block-like plates, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).
)
JK Marlow jkm230228_1345
February Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
The twigs have no terminal bud, and the appressed lateral buds have 2 outer imbricate scales, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
)
JK Marlow jkm210413_9539
April Greenville County SC
Blackwell Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm110511_443
May Edgefield County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm130513_957
May Spartanburg County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm200505_4590
May Spartanburg County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm230509_3200
May Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
Lateral buds ovoid with two lustrous, dark, deeply overlapping scales, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).
)
Roxanna Martin rlm51410_112
May Spartanburg County SC
)
Roxanna Martin rlm51510_216
May Spartanburg County SC
)
Roxanna Martin rlm51510_227
May Spartanburg County SC
Pistillate flowers usually solitary, staminate flowers clustered, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
Roxanna Martin rlm51510_227b
May Spartanburg County
Flowers inconspicuous, axillary, urceolate, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
Roxanna Martin rlm5210_142
May Spartanburg County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm220607_8380
June Greenville County SC
Bald Rock Heritage Preserve
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_d_virginiana_american
June
Calyx 4-5 lobed, enlarging after flowering, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm170826_745
August Spartanburg County SC
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_d_virginiana_common
September Floyd County GA
)
Sam Pratt sbp_3386
September Spartanburg County SC
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Sam Pratt sbp_3387
September Spartanburg County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm071025_032
October Pickens County SC
Clemson Forest
Bark is fissured, becoming blockier and thicker with age, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
)
JK Marlow jkm081018_002
October Greenville County SC
Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm081018_007
October Greenville County SC
Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve
Position of calyx remnant reveals fruit to be derived from a superior ovary, per Woody Plants of Kentucky and Tennessee (Jones & Wofford, 2013).
)
JK Marlow jkm211016_4339
October Greenville County SC
)
Keith Bradley kab_d_virginiana_4761
October Lancaster County SC
Forty Acre Rock Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow s071020_a
October Pickens County SC
Leaves often have black blemishes on upper surface, per Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988).
)
JK Marlow s071020_b
October Pickens County SC
Leaves never have teeth, distinguishing them from Nyssa sylvatica, per Weakley's Flora.
COMPARE
leaves of Blackgum and Persimmon
)
JK Marlow jkm0411d_27
November Oconee County SC
Roadside
Fruit a berry 2-4cm wide, astringent until fully ripened on the branches, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
)
JK Marlow jkm081208_020
December Greenville County SC
Flesh of soft fallen fruit is orange and sweet, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).
)
JK Marlow jkm081228_004
December Greenville County SC
Field
The wood is some of the heaviest & hardest in eastern North America, per Weakley's Flora.
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Diospyros virginiana
FAMILY
Ebenaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Diospyros virginiana
FAMILY
Ebenaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Diospyros virginiana
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 8
Diospyros virginiana
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Diospyros virginiana
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 150-01-001:
Diospyros virginiana
FAMILY
Ebenaceae
INCLUDING
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Diospyros mosieri
INCLUDING
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Diospyros virginiana
477
Tree
Perennial
Functionally dioecious
Habitat: Dry forests and woodlands, longleaf pine sandhills, prairies, disturbed places, floodplain and mesic forests, fencerows, roadsides, other disturbed areas, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Deciduous
Simple
Alternate
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Whitish, yellowish-white
4-lobed calyx
4-lobed urceolate corolla
16 stamens (usually)
Superior ovary
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Orange to yellow
Berry
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p066
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p288
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p214
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p244
- Identifying Trees: An All-Season Guide to Eastern North America (Williams, 2007) p326
- Landscaping with Native Trees (Sternberg & Wilson, 1995) p102
- Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southeast (Foote & Jones, 1989) p118
- Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007) p130
- Trees of the Southeastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1988) p258
- Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance) p30
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p237
- Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004) p132
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