Factsheet F12: Diospyros virginiana – American persimmon

One of the few hardy members of the ebony family, the American persimmon is a tree well known in North America, and which deserves to be better known in Europe. Not only does it produce large crops of edible fruits with very little attention, but it also has valuable timber and bears flowers which produce good bee forage.
The persimmon is native to the Eastern United States from Florida to Connecticut, and its culture has been extended to southern Canada and westwards to Oregon in the northwest. It is so prolific in parts of America that it is sometimes considered a weed on account of its suckering habit.