Diospyros Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
450–500, including:
D. digyna
D. discolor
D. ebenum
D. kaki
D. lotus
D. sandwicensis
D. virginiana
Diospyros is a genus of about 450–500 species of deciduous and evergreen trees. The majority are native to the tropics, with only a few species extending into temperate climates.
The genus includes a few species that are commercially important; the persimmon (D. kaki, D. virginiana), which produce edible fruit, and ebony (chiefly D. ebenum) which produces a hard, black wood.
The Kaki Persimmon (Diospyros kaki) is the most widely cultivated species, grown for its delicious fruit (see below). This species, native to China, is deciduous, with broad, stiff leaves. Cultivation for the fruit extended first to other parts of east Asia, and later introduced to California and southern Europe in the 1800s.
The American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) is native to eastern North America. The Black Persimmon or Black Sapote (Diospyros digyna) is native to Mexico, and its fruit has green skin and white flesh when unripe and turns black when ripe. There is also the Mabolo or Velvet-apple (Diospyros discolor), which is native to the Philippines. It is bright red when ripe.
The Date-plum (Diospyros lotus), native to southwest Asia and southeast Europe, was known to the ancient Greeks as "the fruit of the Gods", i.e., Dios pyros, whence the scientific name of the genus. Its English name derives from the small fruit, which have a taste reminiscent of both plums and dates.
The wood of persimmons is known as ebony. It is heavy and hard, and with the heartwood jet black in several tropical species, notably Diospyros ebenum. These species with black heartwood are valued far more for their wood than for their fruit.
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