Persimmon
Diospyros virginiana
A small deciduous tree with glossy oval leaves and grey-brown bark broken into deep, almost square blocks. The orange-yellow fruit is 2–5 cm across, sits in a persistent four-lobed calyx and often hangs on the bare branches well after leaf fall. Trees are usually either male or female, so cropping is patchy. The flesh is mouth-puckeringly astringent until it is fully soft, when it becomes sweet, honeyed and date-like.
Native to the eastern United States on old fields, woodland edges and poor dry soils. In Britain and Ireland it is a planted tree only — gardens, arboreta and fruit collections, mainly in the warmer south and east, where a sheltered sunny position is needed for fruit to ripen. Not naturalised here.
Fully ripe, jelly-soft fruit is generally eaten without trouble. Unripe fruit is intensely astringent from soluble tannins, unpleasant rather than poisonous, but repeated large quantities of unripe fruit have been associated with hardened stomach masses (diospyrobezoars), particularly when eaten on an empty stomach. Discard seeds and calyx, and check whether garden or amenity trees have been sprayed before picking.
Always use more than one reference to confirm a plant. You are responsible for what you choose to forage.
Bark
Dark grey-brown and broken into deep, roughly square blocks, like tiles or hide. This is the feature that identifies the tree from a distance and in winter, when no other planted fruit tree in a UK garden has bark of this pattern.
Leaves
Alternate, oval to oblong, 7–15 cm long, untoothed, glossy dark green above and paler beneath, colouring yellow to orange before falling. The smooth margin separates it from the toothed leaves of most planted fruit trees.
Fruit and calyx
A globose orange to yellow-orange berry 2–5 cm across, with a stiff, papery four-lobed calyx that stays attached after picking, and several flat brown seeds. Shop persimmon and Sharon fruit, from the Asian Diospyros kaki, is much larger at 5–8 cm and often seedless.
Flowers
Small, bell-shaped, creamy-yellow flowers in late spring to early summer. Trees are normally male or female, so an isolated tree may flower freely and set little or no fruit; check for fruit on a known tree before planning a harvest.
Ripeness test
Squeeze before tasting. Only fruit that is completely soft, almost translucent and collapsing in the hand has lost its astringency; anything still firm will strip the mouth dry however deep its colour.
Updated 2026-08-08T06:53:05.809Z · Part of the shared Foragers Log catalogue · Fruit