The FLOWERS are small, white, and bell-shaped, and appear in long open clusters on racemes.
The FRUIT consist of small, round, shiny, nearly black berries which ripen in the fall and, unless eaten by birds or animals, remain until spring. They have a slightly puckering but pleasing flavor.
The WOOD is heavy, hard, close-grained, and light reddish-brown. It is sometimes used for tool handles.
GUM BUMELIA (Woolly Buckthorn—Gum-Elastic) Bumelia lanuginosa (Michx.) Pers.
Gum bumelia, often called false buckthorn or chittamwood, occurs along streams in sandy woods in eastern Texas to the San Antonio River and over the Edwards Plateau to Palo Pinto County. It reaches its largest development probably in Central Texas where it occasionally grows as a tree 80 feet high and 3 feet in diameter.
[Illustration: GUM BUMELIA (Three-fourths natural size)]
The branches are short, stout, and stiff, and often armed with straight or curved spines.
The LEAVES are oblong, more or less grouped near the ends of short spurs; rounded at the apex, narrowed at the base; thick, firm, dark green and shiny above, and rusty-woolly beneath. They are from 1 to more than 2 inches long and up to ¾ inch wide.
The FLOWERS are small and open in summer, each borne on a hairy flower-stem (pedicel) about ⅛ inch long. They are borne in fascicles of 15 to 18, near the axils of the new leaves or near the leaf-scars of old leaves. The petals are white and lobed. The fruit is fleshy, black, oblong, about ½ inch in length, borne singly or in a cluster of 2 or 3, and usually dry and firm on the outside and contain a light brown, firm rounded seed. The ripe fruit falls from the tree in autumn.
The WOOD is light brown streaked with white and surrounded by a band of lighter colored sapwood. It is heavy, hard, and close-grained.
B. lanuginosa var. Rigida A. Gray, is found in western and southern Texas, while B. lycioides L. Pers., is found in eastern Texas to Milam County.
Persimmon is a well known tree throughout its range. It is small, rarely exceeding 50 feet in height and 18 inches in diameter, occurring in the state as far west as the Colorado River. It prefers dry, open situations, and is most abundant in old fields, though it occurs on rich bottomlands.