Arkansas Tree Database

Scientific name:

Diospyros Virginiana

Size:

50' tall by 35' wide

Leaves:

alternate, simple, 4"-6" long, oval with sharp point, margins untoothed or slightly wavy

Flowers:

yellowish or creamy white, bell-shaped, with four lobes, fragrant

Fruit:

1.5" round berry, yellowing to pale orange, pulpy, strongly astringent while green but edible when completely ripe after hard frost

Fall Interest:

yellow to reddish purple; deciduous

Culture:

sun to partial sun; dry to moist soil, adaptable to pH and low fertility

Disease/Insect:

Use:

ornamental, useful to wildlife, messy in an urban setting, a pioneer tree in disturbed sites

Cultivars:

Notes:

bark black or dark gray, cracked into squares when older; in the same family as ebony, with very hard wood; "persimmon" comes from the Algonquian, and Diospyros comes from the Greek for "fruit of the god Zeus;" larval host for luna moth; valuable to bees; native to Arkansas