Diospyros virginiana (American Persimmon)
Diospyros virginiana (American Persimmon)
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$30 minimum per species for seed.
$30 minimum per species for seed.
Each species requires a minimum of $30 of seed to proceed with checkout.
Pure Live Seed
Pure Live Seed
Seed is provided in Pure Live Seed (PLS) unless otherwise stated.
Pure Live Seed (PLS) refers to the percentage of a seed lot that consists of the desired species and is viable (capable of germination).
Here's why PLS is crucial for native seeds:
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Accurate Planting:
- PLS helps determine the actual number of viable seeds in a given weight or volume of seed.
- This ensures you plant the correct amount of seed to achieve the desired density and success rate.
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Cost-Effectiveness:
- By knowing the PLS, you can avoid overspending on seed that may not germinate.
- This is especially important for native seeds, which can be more expensive than some cultivated varieties.
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Weed Control:
- PLS helps minimize the presence of weed seeds within the seed lot.
- This reduces competition for resources and ensures the successful establishment of the desired native plants.
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Ecological Restoration:
- Using high-quality native seeds with a high PLS is essential for successful ecological restoration projects.
- It helps to re-establish diverse and resilient plant communities that support local wildlife.
Weight Conversions lbs. to oz.
Weight Conversions lbs. to oz.
0.01 pounds = 0.16 ounces
- 0.1 pounds = 1.6 ounces
- 0.25 pounds = 4 ounces
- 0.5 pounds = 8 ounces
- 0.75 pounds = 12 ounces
- 1.00 pounds = 16 ounces
American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) offers orange autumn fruit, colorful fall leaves, and deeply patterned bark as it matures. It makes a substantial tree for a roomy landscape, where fallen fruit and new shoots around the base can be accommodated.
Plant specifications & ecological relationships
Key growing facts
| Sunlight | Full sun to light shade |
|---|---|
| Soil moisture | Moist to dry; well-drained soil preferred |
| Height | 30–70 ft; some accounts report taller trees |
| Bloom season | Late spring to early summer; fruit in fall |
Show / hide ▾Growing & planting details
| Growth habit | Large deciduous tree; may spread through root suckers |
|---|---|
| Root form | Deep taproot |
Plant identification & seed reference
| Botanical name | Diospyros virginiana |
|---|---|
| Other common names | American persimmon |
| Plant family | Ebenaceae |
Where to plant
Plant in sun to light shade with room for the mature crown. Moist, well-drained soil supports growth, though established trees tolerate a range of drier conditions. A deep taproot makes later moves difficult, so choose a permanent location away from spaces where dropped fruit would be troublesome.
Establishment & care
Most trees bear either male or female flowers, so fruiting generally requires both sexes nearby. Natural Communities does not sex these plants. Do not plan an assured fruit crop from a single purchased tree. Root suckers may need management when a spreading grove is not wanted.
Show / hide ▾Plant communities & associates
Illinois remnant record
A historical remnant-inventory entry is retained in the research record. It has not been cleared as a native community association.
Other documented plant associations
These published associations show how this plant fits into natural vegetation. The region and community are identified for each list; moisture, shade and flooding can differ within a community.
Small trees, shrubs and vines associated with northern red oak
Eastern North America; species-range synthesis
Understory tree and shrub associates
Southern part of the American hornbeam range
Other regional plant communities
These plants are named with this species in published vegetation accounts. Each list keeps its community and region; some records describe a shared vegetation type rather than neighboring plants in a measured plot. They are ecological records, not a planting recipe, and may include plants unsuitable for a particular garden.
- Hardwood-forest understory (Southern part of American hornbeam range): Carpinus caroliniana.
Show / hide ▾Native range & C-value
| Wetland indicator — NWPL 2022 Midwest | Midwest: FAC; Northcentral/Northeast: FAC (USACE Chicago FQA 2017) |
|---|---|
| C-value — Chicago region, Flora 2017 | 0 |
| Chicago-region native — Flora 2017 | No |
| Native range — U.S. states | Alabama; Arkansas; Connecticut; Delaware; Florida; Georgia; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maryland; Mississippi; Missouri; New Jersey; New York; North Carolina; Ohio; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; South Carolina; Tennessee; Texas; Virginia; West Virginia |
| County nativity | Not yet verified; occurrence records do not establish nativity. |
Show / hide ▾Pollinators & wildlife
Caterpillars & other plant-feeding insects
This plant has published caterpillar host records for the butterflies and moths listed below. These are larval feeding relationships, separate from adult nectar visits. The records span a North American literature compilation and do not establish that every insect occurs locally or uses only this plant.
Moths
- Acronicta longa — Long-Winged Dagger, Darkish Dagger
- Adoneta spinuloides — Purple-Crested Slug
- Artace cribrarius — Dot-Lined White Moth
- Citheronia regalis — Royal Walnut Moth, Hickory Horned Devil
- Cossula magnifica — Pecan Carpenterworm Moth
- Dasychira leucophaea — Peppered Tussock Moth
- Euclea delphinii — Spiny Oak-Slug Moth
- Euzophera semifuneralis — American Plum Borer
- Exelis pyrolaria — Fine-Lined Gray
- Hyphantria cunea — Fall Webworm
- Monoleuca semifascia — Pin-Striped Vermilion Slug
- Natada nasoni — Nason's Slug Moth
- Prolimacodes badia — Skiff Moth, Skiff Caterpillar
- Renia adspergillus — Speckled Renia
- Sannina uroceriformis — Persimmon Root Borer
- Seirarctia echo — Echo Moth
Other insect & wildlife relationships
Caterpillars this plant can feed
Luna Moth; Hickory Horndevil.
- Fruit and browsing: Birds, foxes, raccoons, black bears and deer eat the fruit; deer also browse twigs and leaves.
Additional published species records; Illinois insect occurrence is not established by this account. These records do not guarantee that every insect occurs at your planting site.
Wildlife relationships
Ripe fruit provides food for birds and mammals. Trees take years to mature; the fruit display and wildlife use of a mature tree should not be expected from a newly planted specimen.
Show / hide ▾Frequently asked questions
What are the ideal growing conditions for American Persimmon?
Diospyros virginiana performs best in full sun to partial sun with mesic to dry-mesic (old fields, woods & bottomland slopes) conditions. It thrives in authentic regional soil types ranging from sandy loam to well-drained clay loams.
How do I germinate and establish American Persimmon from seed?
Seed of Diospyros virginiana has a germination code of C(60). For best results, sow seed in late fall/winter for natural outdoor freeze-thaw stratification, or cold-moist stratify in refrigeration for 30 to 60 days before spring indoor propagation.
Is American Persimmon deer and herbivore resistant?
Yes. Native plants adapted to Midwestern habitats naturally produce protective secondary compounds and fibrous textures that make them highly resistant to deer, rabbits, and other grazing herbivores.
When should I expect American Persimmon to emerge and bloom?
Established plants break dormancy in spring as soil temperatures warm, developing vigorous foliage before blooming in their seasonal window to provide vital nectar when native pollinators need it most.
Show / hide ▾Sources & ecological notes
Illinois community evidence: INHS — three mesic black-soil prairie remnants, compiled from Shildneck, Robertson and Taft records. Source native flags and named sites support the selected remnant records. Full mixed inventories are retained in the research database; source C-values are not substituted for the Flora benchmark.
Chicago-region assessment: Wilhelm & Rericha (2017), Flora of the Chicago Region, via Kenneth Johnson’s Universal FQA dataset (2018). Chicago-region native status is separate from U.S. nativity.
The C-value and Chicago-region native status shown here also agree with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chicago Region FQA dataset (2017), distributed through the USACE/ERDC fqadata package under CC0.
This species is native elsewhere in the United States; Flora of the Chicago Region (2017) records it as non-native in the Chicago region.
The state list describes native botanical distribution. It does not establish county nativity or occurrence, suitability for every site, or the origin of the plants and seeds offered here. An unlisted state is not proof of absence.
Range data: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; 4 June 2026 release, accessed 7 September 2026. © The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. CC BY 3.0; selected and reformatted. Kew cannot warrant the quality or accuracy of these data. This use has no Kew endorsement.
Appearance, growing conditions, and the relationships stated above: NC State Extension Plant Toolbox; Illinois Wildflowers — John Hilty. Selected botanical facts checked 7 September 2026; Natural Communities wrote the descriptions. Regional accounts and garden observations may differ in mature size and season.
Wetland codes are the separate Midwest and Northcentral/Northeast columns of the USACE Chicago FQA 2017 table, distributed under CC0. They describe that dataset, not a current regulatory determination. Family names retain the Flora-linked classification; newer taxonomic systems may group families differently.
State and county nativity: The state list uses WCVP records marked native, excluding introduced, extinct and doubtful records. County nativity has not yet been verified for this listing. Presence in a county or preserve does not establish nativity there.
Preserve records: INHS inventories of Loda, Prospect and Weston prairies, compiled principally from records by Paul Shildneck, Kenneth R. Robertson and John Taft. Selected occurrence facts regrouped by Natural Communities; inventory native flags and 1997 Illinois C-values are not used for the assessments on this page.
Documented plant associations: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service — querub; american hornbeam. Regions and community contexts are retained in the lists above. Federal botanical facts summarized in original wording; no photographs reproduced.
Insect and wildlife records: NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox — species account. Selected species-level facts checked 7 September 2026 and summarized by Natural Communities. Genus-only specialist-bee lists and unrelated adult feeding records are not assigned to this species.
Available Flora-linked Chicago assessments remain controlling. These regional ecology accounts supplement evidence not available for direct reuse from the Flora; they are not represented as Chicago Flora association lists.
Plant communities: USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System (FEIS): Carpinus caroliniana. Selected association facts regrouped in original wording; regional scope retained. No source photographs or captions reproduced.
Caterpillar host records: Shropshire, K.J. & Tallamy, D.W. (2025), Lepidoptera of North America, Supplement 1. Contains information from this database made available under the Open Database License (ODbL 1.0). Natural Communities selected species-level records and screened source qualifications. The complete selection and transformation instructions for this page are available below under the same license.
C-value source: Flora of the Chicago Region (2017), Universal FQA database 80. Matched source taxon: Diospyros virginiana. Exact.
Sources checked September 5, 2026. Regional assessments and growing observations apply to their stated settings. Unverified fields are omitted; missing information does not mean an ecological relationship is absent.
- Illinois Wildflowers — John Hilty. Limited botanical facts presented in Natural Communities’ own wording. Source-specific observations retain their stated scope; photographs, original descriptive prose and compiled relationship tables are excluded. Supports: Bloom Season; Height; Opening botanical description; Primary Native Habitats; Root Architecture & Depth; Soil Moisture Range; Spread Habit; Sun Exposure; Sunlight Exposure.
- Universal FQA — Flora-linked Chicago database 80. Taxonomic names, family and regional nativity originally checked against Kenneth Johnson’s Flora-linked database 80 (2018), citing Wilhelm & Rericha (2017). Limited factual identification only; the C-value follows this Flora-linked database wherever an exact or documented synonym match is available. Supports: Alternate Common Names; Botanical Name; Chicago-region native status; Plant Family.
- USACE/ERDC fqadata — Chicago Region FQA 2017. Herman, B., Sliwinski, R. & Whitaker, S. (2017), Chicago Region FQA Calculator; distributed by USACE/ERDC in fqadata under CC0. Values may differ from Flora of the Chicago Region (2017). CC0 dedication. Retained for comparison; the displayed C-value follows Flora database 80.
- NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. Limited botanical facts presented in Natural Communities’ own wording. Source-specific observations retain their stated scope; photographs, original descriptive prose and compiled relationship tables are excluded. Supports: Alternate Common Names; Ecological Function; Larval Host Status; Soil pH Range; USDA Hardiness Zones.
- USDA NRCS PLANTS — taxon profile and characteristics. USDA NRCS PLANTS Database, checked September 5, 2026. Numeric and categorical taxon-level facts only; no photographs or third-party guide prose reproduced. Supports: Drought Tolerance; Germination Code; Salt Tolerance; Seeds per pound — USDA reference estimate.
- USACE National Wetland Plant List 2022 — Midwest. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2022 National Wetland Plant List, Midwest region; effective February 13, 2024. Federal data. Supports: Wetland Indicator Status.
- USDA Forest Service — FEIS, wildflower accounts and seed manual. Taylor, Jennifer L. 2001. Populus deltoides. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System. Public-domain synthesis; community records retain their reported geography. Supports: Documented community associate: Populus deltoides.
Flora rating attribution: Kenneth Johnson (2018), Flora of the Chicago Region UFQA Database, following Gerould Wilhelm and Laura Rericha (2017), Flora of the Chicago Region: A Floristic and Ecological Synthesis. Individual rating facts are presented with original commentary; the calculator’s software license is not treated as a license for the underlying Flora publication.
The linked Illinois plant relationships were reconciled with INHS-hosted source inventories on September 6, 2026. Same-remnant pairs were calculated from shared named-site occurrences and organized for this catalog; they are not copied narrative descriptions or proof of microsite compatibility.
Source names are retained where a current name or product match has not been verified.
Historical botanical names remain visible where used by the source. These regional accounts supplement the available Chicago Flora evidence.
Reusable research data
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Plant Shipping & Care
Plant Shipping & Care
We want to ensure that our customers get what they want, a native backyard oasis. To do that, we need to follow a few simple guidelines and give you some information and pointers to make sure you get your plants delivered in a healthy state.
As a reminder, you will receive an email to confirm your pickup or shipping window just before the plants are ready. See Order Fulfillment below for seasonal fulfillment windows.
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We take orders all year long and seed is shipped all year, but we only provide the plants to you in certain fulfillment windows to ensure healthy plants.
Wholesale Orders
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Retail & Website Orders
- Seed Typically Ships Out Within One Week Of Order All Year Long
- Typically, single species flats ship when ready, sometimes as soon as early to mid-April (depends on weather) through early-October.
- Mixed species kits are batched and shipped as indicated on the product page.
- If a plant order is placed while outside of the plant fulfillment window your plants will be reserved through your payment, however, the order will not be fulfilled and shipped until the following spring. We don't want to provide you plants when they won't be happy during the cold winter months.
- Early in the spring and later in the fall certain species may be dormant or partially dormant with brown leaves, however they will return to grow healthy next growing season.
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Where We Ship
What to Expect When Receiving Your Delivery
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- We will need to cut back certain plants prior to shipping. This seems counter-intuitive, however, the fewer leaves the less water the plants can lose during shipping, resulting in healthier plants for you. This also enables the plants to fit within the protective packaging and shipped safely.
Shipments
- Larger plant shipments will look similar to the picture below with a tray of your plants and a cardboard box to protect them during shipping.
What to Do With Your Plants After Receiving Your Delivery
- Unpack your order IMMEDIATELY
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- Make sure each plant is receiving the appropriate amount of light.
- Continue to water daily each morning and possibly again in the afternoon
- No additional fertilizer is needed
Seed Shipping & Care
Seed Shipping & Care
There is a minimum order requirement of $30 for each seed species. Seed ships all year and typically ships within a week of an order being placed.
We have attempted to put together some basic information regarding native seed installation, establishment, and maintenance. We hope you find it helpful. If you need further assistance on native seed establishment, please schedule a free consolation call here.
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