Persimmon or Japanese Persimmon (Diospyros kaki) is of unknown origin. This tree can be over 40 feet tall. This species is only found in domesticated form.

Diospyros genus is native to southern Europe, the New World, Africa, and Asia. There are about 475 evergreen shrubs and trees. These normally have hard wood; some species have hard black wood. There are seven species now established in greater North America, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Ebony Family (Ebenaceae) contains almost 485 species in two genera. Most of the species are in the Diospyros genus. This family is known for its hard wood. The leaves are entire and alternate; the fruit is a berry containing one or several seeds. There are seven species of this genus established in greater North America. In the New World this family is naturally found in the SE USA, and from central Mexico south through most of tropical South America. In Africa, this is found widely below the drier areas of the north including the Sahara. In Eurasia, this is found in a limited area between the Near East and the Caspian Sea. In southern Eurasia, this is found in India, SE Asia, and the southern Orient. This is also found from Malaysia south througoh most of Indonesia to New Guinea and most of Australia.

The ebony order (Ebenales) contains mostly semi-tropical and tropical trees and shrubs. The sapote (Sapotaceae), ebony (Ebenaceae), and storax (Styracaceae) families belong here.

Dicots (Dicotyledoneae Class) are the predominant group of vascular plants on earth. With the exception of the grasses (Monocots) and the Conifers (Gymnosperms), most of the larger plants that one encounters are Dicots. Dicots are characterized by having a seed with two outer shell coverings.

Some of the more primitive Dicots are the typical hardwood trees (oaks, birches, hickories, etc). The more advanced Dicots include many of the Composite (Aster) Family flowers like the Dandelion, Aster, Thistles, and Sunflowers. Although many Monocots reach a very high degree of specialization, most botanists feel that the Dicots represent the most advanced group of plants.

Seed plants (Phylum Embryophyta) are generally grouped into one large phylum containing three major classes: the Gymnosperms, the Monocots, and the Dicots. (Some scientists separate the Gymnosperms into a separate phylum and refer to the remaining plants as flowering plants or Angiospermae.)

For North American counts of the number of species in each genus and family, the primary reference has been John T. Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (1994). The geographical scope of his lists include, as part of greater North America, Hawaii, Alaska, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Kartesz lists 21,757 species of vascular plants comprising the ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants as being found in greater North America (including Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

There are estimates within the scientific world that about half of the listed North American seed plants were originally native with the balance being comprised of Eurasian and tropical plants that have become established.

Plant kingdom contains a large variety of different organisms including mosses, ferns, and seed plants. Most plants manufacture their energy from sunlight and water. Identification of many species is difficult in that most individual plants have characteristics that have variables based on soil moisture, soil chemistry, and sunlight.

Because of the difficulty in learning and identifying different plant groups, specialists have emerged that study only a limited group of plants. These specialists revise the taxonomy and give us detailed descriptions and ranges of the various species. Their results are published in technical journals and written with highly specialized words that apply to a specific group.

On the other hand, there are the nature publishers. These people and companies undertake the challenging task of trying to provide easy to use pictures and descriptions to identify those species.

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