Index of Species Information
SPECIES: Diospyros virginiana
Introductory
SPECIES: Diospyros virginiana
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Coladonato, Milo 1992. Diospyros virginiana. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/diovir/all.html [].
ABBREVIATION :
DIOVIR
SYNONYMS :
NO-ENTRY
SCS PLANT CODE :
DIVI5
COMMON NAMES :
common persimmon
persimmon
simmon
possumwood
eastern persimmon
Florida persimmon
TAXONOMY :
The scientific name for common persimmon is Diospyros virginiana L.
[13]. Varieties include [10,24,36]:
D. virginiana L. var. virginiana - typical common persimmon
D. virginiana var. pubescens (Pursch) Dipp. - fuzzy common persimmon
D. virginiana var. platycarpa Sarg. - Oklahoma common persimmon
D. virginiana var. mosieri (Small) Sarg. - Florida persimmon
LIFE FORM :
Tree
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Diospyros virginiana
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Common persimmon is distributed from southern Connecticut and Long
Island, New York to southern Florida. Inland it occurs in central
Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, and central Illinois to
southeastern Iowa; and southeastern Kansas and Oklahoma to the Valley of
the Colorado River in Texas. It does not grow in the main range of the
Appalachian Mountains, nor in much of the oak-hickory forest type of the
Allegheny Plateau [8,12,15].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
STATES :
AL AR CT DE FL GA IL KS KY LA
MD MS MO NJ NC OH OK PA SC TN
TX VA WV
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
KO89 Black Belt
K090 Live oak - sea oats
K100 Oak - hickory forest
K104 Appalachian oak forest
K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
K112 Southern mixed forest
K113 Southern floodplain forest
SAF COVER TYPES :
64 Sassafras - persimmon
70 Longleaf pine
72 Southern scrub oak
80 Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
81 Loblolly pine
82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
84 Slash pine
92 Sweetgum - willow oak
93 Sugarberry - American elm - green ash
96 Overcup oak - water hickory
101 Baldcypress
102 Baldscypress - tupelo
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
Common persimmon is found in many plant associations, but it is not an
indicator of any particular habitat [6,33].
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Diospyros virginiana
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
The wood of common persimmon is hard, smooth, and even textured. It is
used for turnery, plane stocks, veneer, golf club heads, and
occasionally low-grade lumber [8,36].
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
In Indiana and Ohio, the leaves and twigs of common persimmon are an
important supplementary fall and winter food for white-tailed deer
[29,34]. The fruit is an important food for squirrel, fox, coyote,
racoon, opossum, and quail [7,22]. Hogs relish the fruit of common
persimmon, but it is of little value to other livestock and is
considered a nuisance [15].
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
The seeds and fruits of common persimmon are generally low in crude
protein, crude fat, and calcim, but high in nitrogen-free extract and
tannin [3,15].
COVER VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
Common persimmon sends down a deep taproot which makes it a good species
for erosion control. It is, however, difficult to transplant [15].
Propagation is by seed stratified at 41 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit (5-10
deg C) for 365 days and sown in the spring. Germination is about 80
percent. Root cuttings 6 to 8 inches (15-20 cm) long and 1/3 inch (0.85
cm) in diameter can also be used provided the ends are sealed with pitch
or wax to prevent rot [36].
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
The unripe fruit and inner bark of common persimmon are sometimes used
in the treatment of fever, diarrhea, and hemorrhage. Indelible ink can
also be made from the fruit. Common persimmon is sometimes planted as
an ornamental; the flowers are used in the production of honey [30,36].
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Dense thickets of common persimmon are considered a nuisance in open
fields and pastures. On abandoned fields, where persimmon is an
invader, it is classed as a weed species because it fails to reach
commercial size [5]. Common persimmon is easily defoliated with a 20
percent solution of Garlon 4 but will sprout readily from the stems and
roots after treatment. Treatment is most effective in May when leaves
are fully expanded [4,19,27].
Damaging agents: The principal defoliators of common persimmom are the
webworm (Seiarctica echo) and the hickory horned devil (Citheronia
regalis). The fungus Cephalosporium diospyri causes persimmon wilt and
kills many trees in the Southeast. The disease is characterized by a
wilting of the leaves followed by defoliation and death of the branches
from the top down. An infected tree lives 1 or 2 years after the
wilting appears. Diseased trees should be burned, and bruises on
healthy tree should be covered with pitch or wax to prevent entry by
wind-borne spores [15,30].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Diospyros virginiana
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Common persimmon is a slow-growing, thicket-forming, dioecious,
deciduous tree up to 70 feet (21 m) but generally less than 40 feet (12
m) tall [8]. It has a rounded or conical crown with the branches
spreading at right angles. The twigs are self-pruning and form an
irregular shaped crown. The leaves are simple, alternate, entire, and
elliptical to oblong. The fruit is a persistent spherical berry; each
berry contains one to eight flat seeds [10,13,31].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Phanerophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Common persimmon reproduces vegetatively and by seed. The optimum
fruit-bearing age is 25 to 50 years, but 10-year-old trees sometimes
bear fruit. Good seed crops are borne every 2 years, with light crops
in intervening years [28,30]. The seed is disseminated by birds and
animals that feed on the fruits, and to some extent, by overflow water
in low bottomlands [15].
Vegetative Reproduction: Common persimmon will sprout from the stump or
develop from root suckers. Sprouting from the root collar is common
after fire or cutting [36].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Common persimmon grows on a wide variety of sites but grows best on
terraces of large streams and river bottoms. It grows best on alluvial
soils such as clays and heavy loams. In the Mississippi Delta, usual
sites are wet flats, shallow sloughs, and swamp margins. In the Midwest
it grows on poorly drained upland sites, but growth there is very slow
[6,17,20,23].
Common overstory associates not listed under Distribution and Occurrence
include eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana), sugar maple (Acer
saccharum), yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera),, boxelder (Acer
negundo), red maple (A. rubrum), sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), and
cedar elm (Ulmus crassifolia). Common shrubs and noncommercial tree
associates include swamp-privet (Forestiera acuminata), rough-leaf
dogwood (Cornus drummondii), hawthorns (Crataegus spp.), water-elm
(Planera acquatica), shining sumac (Rhus copallina), and smooth sumac
(R. glabra) [6,15,26].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Obligate Initial Community Species.
Common persimmon is very tolerant of shade. It can persist in the
understory for many years. Its response to release is not definitely
known but probably not very good. Common persimmon competes very well
with almost any plant under harsh conditions.
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
The flowers of common persimmon bloom from March to June; its fruit
ripens from September to November [30].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Diospyros virginiana
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Common persimmon is well adapted to fire. It sprouts readily from the
roots and root crown when aboveground portions are killed by fire
[2,14,15].
FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Tree with adventitious-bud rootcrown/ soboliferous species root sucker
Initial-offsite colonizer (offsite, initial community)
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Diospyros virginiana
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Common persimmon in southern pine forests can be killed by severe fires
that char the soil and kill the roots and rootstocks. Less severe fires
top-kill the plant [18].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Common persimmon sprouts vigorously following fire [15]. After a summer
and winter burn in Oklahoma, common persimmon stem density increases in
postfire year 1 were as follows [1]:
Species density (stem/ha)
summer burn late-winter burn
preburn postburn preburn postburn
542 750 17 583
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Periodic fires have been useful in controlling common persimmon by
preventing it from reaching the overstory in southern pine forests.
However, common persimmon is known to decrease with fire exclusion [18].
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Diospyros virginiana
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FEIS Home Page
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