Geographic Distribution
Persimmon, formally known as Diospyros virginiana, is a true North American native. It has a rather extensive native range in the eastern United States. Specifically, D. virginiana is natively found from southern Connecticut and New York’s Long Island to southern Florida; westward through central Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, and central Illinois to southeast Iowa; and south through eastern Kansas and Oklahoma to the Valley of the Colorado River in Texas. It does not grow, however, in the main range of the Appalachian Mountains, nor in much of the oak-hickory forest type on the Allegheny Plateau. Its best development is in the rich bottom lands of the Mississippi River and its tributaries and in coastal river valleys. It is exceedingly common in the South Atlantic and Gulf States, often covering abandoned fields with a shrubby growth, and springing up by the sides of roads and fences. It is often the first tree species to start growth on abandoned and denuded cropland. It is well adapted to an environment of high insolation and low water supply.
In addition to its native areas, D. virginiana has been successfully planted as far west as California and Utah, although it is not known to readily naturalize in these areas. In addition, as early as the 17th century, D. virginiana was exported to the British Isles where it is successfully grown adjacent to the English Channel where winters are mild enough for it to prosper, although the highly desirable fruits often do not ripen to edible status in this area.
Persimmon Exterior
Those familiar with genus names of trees will readily recognize Diospyros as the genus of the “true” Ebonies. I think it would surprise many wood workers, and it certainly surprised me, to learn that a relatively common fruit tree native to the Americas is actually an Ebony, although as will soon be clear, you wouldn’t know it by looking at most of the wood from the tree.
For the sake of simplicity, I will refer to D. virginiana from this point forward simply as Persimmon.
General Characteristics
Persimmon almost always features very wide sapwood, in fact, most trees unless they have reached great age, at least 100 years or more, display essentially only sapwood. The sapwood is of a white to pale yellowish-brown color. As is not uncommon, this color will tend to darken with age and exposure to ultra-violet light sources.
The heartwood of the Persimmon, when and where it occurs, is almost always very thin, rarely more than 1” wide. This heartwood betrays the character of the genus Diospyros in that it is of a very dark brown to black color, similar to the Gabon Ebony most wood workers think of when they hear the term “ebony” or “Diospyros”.
The grain of Persimmon is generally straight. The texture is most often even and described as being of a medium to coarse character.
Persimmon end-grain is usually characterized as porous, with pores ranging from large to small depending on the stage of development. The pores are arranged in a semi-ring format.
Growth rings are usually distinct in Persimmon but the rays are not visible without a lens.
Most true Ebony wood is quite resistant to rot and insect attack, but this refers only to the heartwood characteristics. Because Persimmon almost always presents as practically all sapwood, it is rated as perishable in terms of rot resistance and it is also susceptible to insect attack.
Working Characteristics
Persimmon wood presents a mixed bag of sorts in terms of its workability. In general, Persimmon is reasonable to work with hand powered tools, but electrically powered or otherwise motor driven tools can encounter unexpected difficulties.