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Diospyros (Old Greek name used)

(the old Greek name used by Theophrastus, from dios, divine, and puros, wheat; literally celestial food). Date Plum. ORD. Ebenaceae. A genus of about 150 species of stove, greenhouse, or hardy trees and shrubs, represented in nearly all temperate and tropical regions. Flowers inconspicuous, polygamous, axillary. Leaves simple, alternate, entire exstipulate. The greenhouse species are ornamental, and thrive under ordinary treatment; they are propagated by cuttings of half-ripened shoots. Those requiring stove heat strike best from ripened shoots, made during April or May, placed in sand, and in a brisk bottom heat. The hardy species may be increased by seeds. D. Ebenus. Ebony. fl. white; male ones sub-racemose; hermaphrodite ones solitary. l. bifarious, ovate-lanceolate or oblong, acuminated, glabrous. h. 30ft. to 40ft. 1792. Stove. (B. F. S. 65.) D. Kaki (Kaki).* fl. whitish-green; male peduncles usually three-flowered. fr. yellow when ripe, globose, eight-celled, size of a small orange, abounding in yellow, fleshy, edible pulp; it is tolerably pleasant. l. bifarious, ovate-elliptic, acuminated, elliptic-oblong or obovate, cordate at the base, downy on both surfaces. Branches tomentose. h. 12ft. to 20ft. China, 1789. Hardy in South of England and Channel Islands, &c. The variety costata (G. C. n. s., iv. 777) is so named in consequence of the depressed lines or ribs that mark the surface of the fruit from the apex down towards the enlarged persistent four-lobed calyx at the base. The name of Date Plum is, perhaps, more frequently used for this species than for any of the others. D. Lotus.* European Lotus, or common Date Plum. fl. reddish-white, small. July. fr. yellow when ripe, sweet with astringency, size of a cherry. l. oblong, acuminate, of a beautiful dark glossy green above; when mature, and exposed to the air, they assume a purplish hue beneath; they do not change colour in autumn, but drop off simultaneously with the first attack of sharp frost. h. 20ft. to 30ft. South Europe, Orient, 1596. Hardy. D. Mazeli (Mazel's).* fr. orange-red, large, spherical, ripe in November. l. elliptic-ovate or sub-cordate, deciduous. Japan, 1874. (R. H. 1874, 70.) D. virginiana (Virginian).* Persimmon; Virginian Date Plum. fl. pale yellow. July. fr. golden-yellow, size and form of a common Plum. l. ovate-oblong, acuminated, glabrous, shining above, and paler beneath, reticulately veined; petioles short and curved, and, as well as the branchlets, downy. h. 20ft. to 30ft. North America, 1629. Hardy.