Persimmon Persimmon The persimmon (sometimes spelled persimon) is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus "Diospyros". The most widely cultivated of these is the Asian or Japanese persimmon, "Diospyros kaki". "Diospyros" is in the family Ebenaceae, and a number of non-persimmon species of the genus are grown for ebony timber. The word "Diospyros" comes from the ancient Greek words "dios" ("δῐος") and "pyron" ("πῡρον"). A popular etymology construed this as "divine fruit", or as meaning "wheat of Zeus" or "God's pear" and "Jove's fire". The dio-, as shown by the short vowel 'i' has nothing
Fruit especially a botanical fruit; a "nut" is any hard, oily, and shelled plant product; and a "vegetable" is any savory or less sweet plant product. However, in botany, a "fruit" is the ripened ovary or carpel that contains seeds, a "nut" is a type of fruit and not a seed, and a "seed" is a ripened ovule. Examples of culinary "vegetables" and nuts that are botanically fruit include corn, cucurbits (e.g., cucumber, pumpkin, and squash), eggplant, legumes (beans, peanuts, and peas), sweet pepper, and tomato. In addition, some spices, such as allspice and chili pepper, are fruits, botanically speaking. In