PlantFiles: Texas Persimmon
Diospyros texana

This plant is awesome!
The bark is beautiful and smooth, and the fruit is quite delicious if you get to it before animals do.
The leaves have a nice dark green color that contrasts well with the rest of the plant.
They are a very stately, pretty undersory tree to have.
If you are going to eat the fruit, you must wait until they are soft.
They stain everything black if they fall to the ground, which almost never happens because animals love them.
It grows wild around here, and the only downside is how slow it grows.

"Danger:
Plant has spines or sharp edges; use extreme caution when handling" This statement is entirely false!

Texas Persimmon is very common to the Llano, Tx area and a good choice for local landscaping. But because of it's exceptionally slow growth pattern, transpanting a more mature plant is advisable.

The root stock is of the rizome type and usually only a few inches deep. Carefully excavate around the base of the plant to find the direction of travel. Continue excavating along the rizome in both directions and try to get an intact root the width of the exposed plant.

When transplanting, you will probably need a deep, but short, (above ground), stake to help support the plant vertically. Prune back about 30% of the foilage to help reduce the stress of transpanting. Water deeply. Continue weekly watering for the first couple of months.

After the plant has regained it's vigor, watering can be reduced to monthly or even bi-monthly.

The best time to transplant is during the winter months while the plant is semi-dormant. Other than an occassional watering, Texas Persimmon is about as maintenance free as you can get.

I've never seen Texas persimmon occurring in Comanche county but its northern native range appears to be southern Brown county into Mills county and southward. The Texas Hill Country starts around Brownwood. The tree can suffer freeze damage anywhere north of Brownwood in severe winters. Texas persimmon is a good native alternative to the much overused crape myrtle but does not have the profusion of blooms that crape myrtle has and unfortunately isn't as cold hardy. But it is much more drought resistant than crape myrtle and survives months of Texas drought and heat with no ill effects, making it great for xeriscaping. Disease, drought and insects seem to have no effect on Texas persimmon. Native Americans had many uses for the tree and its fruit, which is mildly sweet but small and full of seeds.

I did not see any spines in this plant.

Pretty small trees or shrubs. The bark is grey, smooth and peels off as it grows, like a crepe mrytle. Grows wild near Kendalia (north of San Antonio) in alkaline clay soil; many grow in holes in limestone, splitting the stone over time. The fruit tastes good, but is almost entirely seed, and is about 3/4 inch in diameter.

I have not grown this tree, but wanted to add its other common names: Mexican Persimmon, Black Persimmon, Chapote, Chapote Manzano, Chapote Prie; it is an endemic Texas native.

It is found naturally occurring in South and Central Texas and west to the Big Bend region. It may be a predominant invading woody species in some pastyre in Central Texas. It grows best in shallow, rocky limestone soils; but, It is adaptable to most soil types including clay. The soil must be well drained. It usually is a shrub or small tree less than 15 feet tall. However, along the upper Texas coast some specimens may reach 50 feet tall. Fine hairs are on the underside of the oval leaves which are rounded at the tips. The thin bark peels off in layers revealing mottled gray, white and pink hues.

The insignificant white, cream or grayish bell-shaped flowers have a sweet fragrance. The female plants produce 1 inch fruit that turn beautiful color shades as they ripen to black. The fruit pulp is sweet and edible; but, contains many seeds. Wildlife love the fruit. It is difficult at times to collect any ripe fruit because it has already been devoured or knocked from the tree with the fruit being smushed as it hits the ground before one can pick them. The persimmons are used in custards and pies. In Mexico, the fruits are used to make a black dye employed to stain animal hides.

The compact wood is almost black, hard and heavy. It takes a high polish and is valued because it can be used for tools, engraving blocks and art work.

Specimens I have examined occur on limestone hills of Central Texas near Lake Belton. Usually they are scraggly little tree less than 15 feet tall, yet they make a good selection for xeriscaping, being drought tolerant and producing a sweet purple-black fruit which is eaten by many birds and mammals, including man.
The wood is desired for craftwork, being heavy and black, sapwood yellow and taking a high polish.
Like Texas Mountain Laurel and Mexican Buckeye, Texas Persimmon appears to be able to tolerate some degree of shading from taller trees and still thrive.

I have started some seeds from last year and they are soooo slow to grow (but what a root)!. Even the scarified ones. Right now, some persimmon fruit have seeds to grow while most still seem too young. Soaking in water induced the tap root to emerge.

Quite a few of them grow wild on my property the largest stand about 8 trees are on a half acre secton that is bordered on one side by a pasture, one side by a county road, one side a small wet weather creek and the fourth side by a heavy stand of oaks and hickory.
Other trees sharing the same area are, china berry, cedar and catalpa. The trees are quite tall, at least 30 feet. The only problem I have is when the ripe fruit fall it usually splatters. I find them to be excellent forage for the raccoons and possums that are frequent visitors. I enjoy the fruits myself when I find some that haven't splattered.