Diospyros texana

Also known as Texas Persimmon, Mexican Persimmon, Black Persimmon, Chapote, Chapote Prieto

Diospyros texana, or Texas Persimmon, is a shrub or small tree that usually has tough wood and multiple trunks. It typically grows 10-15 feet tall but can reach up to 35 feet in the southern parts of its range. The tree is commonly found in brushy areas on level uplands, stony hillsides, and lower slopes from Houston and Bryan, Texas, in the east, west to Big Bend in west Texas, and south to Nuevo Leon in northeastern Mexico. It is widespread in central and south Texas.

The bark is light gray to white, smooth, thin, peeling in rectangular flakes on some trunks to expose a pinkish layer beneath. The leaves are up to 2 inches long, but most are about half this length, with smooth, rolled-down margins and a slightly notched or rounded tip tapering to the base. The flowers are shaped, whitish, about 3/8 inch wide, and arranged singly or in small clusters among the new leaves. The male and female flowers appear on separate plants in March and April. The fruit is fleshy, round, up to 1 inch in diameter, black, and sweet when ripe, ripening from late July into September.

This small tree has a beautiful shape and is valued primarily for its striking trunk and branches, which are smooth, pale greyish white or whitish grey, peeling off to reveal subtle greys, whites, and pinks beneath. The fruits, borne on female trees, are edible once soft, with a flavor likened to prunes, and are favorites of many birds and mammals. It is highly drought-tolerant and disease-resistant and is ideal for small spaces in full sun.

The tree is usually deciduous North of the Rio Grande Valley, where winters are cold. From the Rio Grande Valley southward, it is semi-deciduous to evergreen, losing its leaves all at once in early spring like live oaks, with no period of bareness. The heartwood, found only in massive trunks, is black, like the related ebony (Diospyros ebenum), while the sapwood is clear yellow.

BONAP MAP

Height: 20’-40’
Spread 15’-25’
Bloom: February-April
Light: Full Sun, Part Shade
Water: Low
Zone: 7, 8, 9
Origin: Southwestern United States