Brazos County Herbarium

Brazos County Horticulture Extension

Common persimmon, Eastern persimmon

Diospyros virginiana L.

Ebenaceae (Persimmon family)

Description

Common persimmon is a shrub to small tree. A native, cool-season perennial, it is also known as eastern persimmon.

This plant has a characteristic leaf shape, bud scars and new buds. Its fruit has four to eight seeds that are very hard and enable this plant to invade pasture land. As it matures, the fruit is at first green, turning yellow to orange and finally purple to black when fully ripened.

Common persimmon provides fair forage for wildlife.

Habitat

Common persimmon grows on most types of soils from sand to shale and in muddy bottomlands in the eastern and central parts of Texas.

Images

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Department of Rangeland, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management

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