Diospyros japonica Siebold & Zucc.

The ripe fruit of some forms of Diospyros japonica is edible and has a good flavor, particularly those forms sometimes included within Diospyros glaucifolia var. brevipes. Diospyros japonica has been suggested as rootstock for D. kaki. Unripe fruit yields persimmon lacquer; the fruiting calyx is medicinal, and the wood is used for furniture, etc.

Japanese specimens correspond more closely with Diospyros glaucifolia var. brevipes but vary sufficiently to obscure the differences in petiole length and shape of the leaf blade used to separate this from D. glaucifolia var. glaucifolia. Diospyros glaucifolia var. pubescens was based on specimens from Fujian with densely appressed pubescence along veins on the abaxial surface of leaf blade, but the leaf indumentum of this species varies even among the syntypes: Ling 3137 is densely pubescent while Wang 1012 is only sparsely pubescent. These specimens are insufficiently different to be recognized as a distinct variety.

Trees to 10 m tall. Branches and winter buds glabrous. Petiole 1.2--1.4 cm, apically narrowly winged; leaf blade elliptic to oblong, 7--15 X 3--5.5 cm, papery, glabrous, abaxially drying gray green with dark veinlets, adaxially brown, base cuneate and decurrent into a winged petiole, apex acute, lateral veins 5--7 per side, slender, and ± conspicuous on both surfaces, reticulate veinlets flat and clearly defined. Male flowers in 3-flowered cymes; peduncle, pedicel, and calyx with short rusty appressed hairs; calyx lobes 4; corolla subglabrous, lobes twisted and with a ciliate margin; stamens 14. Female flowers not seen. Fruit solitary. Fruiting pedicel ca. 2 mm. Fruiting calyx 2--3 cm in diam., divided to below middle, ± spreading, appressed rusty pubescent; lobes 4, ovate, 1.2--1.5 X ca. 1 cm, apex subacute. Berries globose, ca. 2.5 cm in diam. Seeds oblong, ca. 12 X 6 mm. Fl. May, fr. Sep.

Trees to 17 m tall, deciduous. Trunk to 50 cm d.b.h. Branchlets dark brown to blackish brown, glabrous. Winter buds ovate, 4--5 mm, glabrous. Petiole 1.2--2.5 cm; leaf blade elliptic to lanceolate, 7.5--17.5 X 3.5--7.5 cm, thinly leathery, glabrous or sparsely appressed pubescent, abaxially glaucous, base rounded to truncate, apex acuminate, lateral veins 7 or 8 per side, reticulate veinlets dense, dark, and not raised. Male flowers in cymes; pedicel ca. 1 mm; calyx lobes 4; corolla urn-shaped, lobes 4; stamens 16. Female flowers solitary or in clusters of 2 or 3; calyx lobes 4, sparsely pubescent; corolla yellowish, urn-shaped, ca. 7 mm, tube ca. 5 mm; style 4-parted; stigma emarginate. Fruiting pedicel 2--3 mm. Fruiting calyx 1.3--1.6 cm in diam., divided to below middle, ± spreading, outside sparsely pubescent; lobes 4, triangular-ovate, (4--)6--8 X ca. 6 mm, appressed to fruit, margin sometimes revolute. Berries orange-yellow, becoming red, globose to depressed globose, 1.5--2(--3) cm in diam., 8-locular, glaucous. Seeds oblong, strongly compressed, 9--12 X 4.5--6.5 X 2--3 mm. Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. Sep-Nov.

SE Yunnan

Anhui, Fujian, NW Guangdong, NE Guangxi, NW Guizhou, SW Hunan. Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan?, Zhejiang [Japan].

* Mixed forests, by streams in valleys; 800--1700 m.

Slopes, mixed forests or by streams in ravines; 600--1300 m.

Diospyros glaucifolia Metcalf; D. glaucifolia var. brevipes S. Lee; D. glaucifolia var. pubescens Ling.