American Persimmon
Diospyros virginiana
The small orange fruit stays mouth-puckeringly astringent until it is completely soft, usually after the first hard frosts, and then turns as sweet as a date. Blocky charcoal bark broken into deep squares makes the tree recognizable in any season. Dioecious, so a male has to be growing nearby for a female to set fruit. Tough and productive on dry, poor ground where little else fruits.
- Family
- Ebenaceae
- Type
- tree
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 35–60 ft
- Spacing
- 25–35 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade
- Soil moisture
- dry
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral
- Bloom
- April, May, June
- Bloom colors
- yellow, green
- Wildlife value
- pollinators, butterflies, mammals, songbirds, larval host
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~46 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- naturalizing, rain garden
- Native states
- AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MO, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV