Persimmon

Description

Any of several small deciduous trees (genus Diospyros) having orange to red color edible fruits. Various types of persimmons are found throught the temperate regions of the world. The trees produces a dense, close-grain wood that is similar to ebony. It is used for shuttles, bobbins, golf club heads, and billiard cues.

Synonyms and Related Terms

kaki (Diospyros kaki: native to China); sharon fruit; Oriental persimmon; black sapote (Diospyros digyna; native to central America), mabolo (Diospyros discolor; native to the Philipppines); velvet apple; date-plum (Diospyros lotus; native to southeast Europe and southwest Asia); Texas persimmon (Diospyros texana); American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana; native to eastern North America); kaki (Jap., Deut., Fr.); caqui (Esp., Port.); persimonio (Esp.); zapote (Esp.); plaqueminier (Fr.); caco (It.);

Persimmon Diospyros kaki

Other Properties

Tree height to 10 m. Fruit = 3-8 cm in diameter. Heartwood is black or dark brown. Sapwood is pale in color.

Authority

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com Comment: "persimmon" Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. [Accessed 25 Jan. 2006].

• Website address 1 Comment: Museum of Japanese Traditional Art Crafts at http://www.nihon-kogeikai.com/ (Jap. term)

• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at http://www.wikipedia.com Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimmon [Accessed 25 Jan. 2006].