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
Diospyros revaughanii the island's (now extinct) species of giant tortoise - and possible also by the dodo - which dispersed the seeds. The absence of these natural seed dispersers could be the reason for the poor seed germination in habitat today. This species is one of eleven surviving species of ebony tree which naturally occur on Mauritius - all of them endemic. Several additional species are now extinct. Diospyros revaughanii Diospyros revaughanii is a rare species of tree in the family Ebenaceae (ebony). The tree is one of several species of ebony tree which are endemic to the island of Mauritius, in