I have attached six (6) photographs. We have two of these trees growing side by side in our backyard, along the fence line, about eight feet from one another. They appear to have been placed there on purpose, by the previous owner of our property. The trees are each about 15 feet tall, and slender. We are trying to determine whether or not this fruit is edible. The fruit looks something like a plumb, but much smaller. The pit inside also reminds me of a plumb... its just a single pit. At the moment, most of the fruit is green and feels hard, like an apple. However, I did locate a few pieces of fruit that appear to be ripe, as they are somewhat pink/orange in color, and they came right off the tree without any trouble. The ones that seem ripe are also softer to the touch, more like a tomato. These ripe ones also have something of a sweet smell, if that makes sense. They smell delicious! It seems strange that none of the "critters" in our yard have tampered with them. Among other things, we have quite a few squirrels in our yard, and they have picked clean all of our garden plants (strawberries, peppers, etc.), and shaken loose most all of the nuts from our black walnut tree. And yet these two fruit trees appear to be untouched. I sliced a small piece of the fruit open and set it on the table outside, where it has remained untouched for nearly two days now. I did notice, however, that the ants had discovered a ripe piece of the fruit that had fallen to the ground, and so far as I could tell, they appeared to be enjoying every bite. Does anyone recognize this fruit or this tree? Thanks! Joe
american persimmon? compare with http://www.huntingtonbotanical.org/WhatsInBloom/nov05/Nov05.html http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/divi.html
Yep, Diospyros virginiana. Edible (and delicious) when fully ripe, but when not fully ripe, very astringent.
