Diospyros virginiana American persimmon

Fall color of American persimmon in the San Francisquito Creek greenbelt. To the right is a Turkey oak. Sairus Patel, 7 Nov 2020

American persimmon leaves and checkered bark, San Francisquito Creek greenbelt. Sairus Patel, 11 Jul 2023

Its walnut-sized fruits are distinctly smaller than those of the Japanese persimmon, but this American native gave us the name persimmon, which derives from an Algonquin word. It is mainly collected from wild trees.

Four old trees, with dark, deeply ridged bark divided into square plates, grew in the greenbelt between San Francisquito Creek and Sand Hill Road, not far from Ronald McDonald House. One remains, at the southeast edge of the grand canopy of the Turkey oak north of the house (map pin), but looks not long for this world.

Name derivation: Diospyros – from Greek Dios (Jove’s) and pyros (grain); virginiana – Virginian.