An orange-red or yellow plum like fruit of an American tree of the ebony family, found from Connecticut to Florida and from Ohio to Texas. The tree is sometimes called date-plum or possumwood.
Captain John Smith wrote that the persimmon "draws a man's mouth awry with much torment" until ripened by the frost, when it is sweet and fine flavored.
The Virginia Indians preserved the fruit by drying it on mats. The Algonquian tribes used the hard flat seeds in playing a dice game. The Natchez Indians made a famous persimmon bread.