Diospyros virginiana -L.-
persimmon tree


Entry Type: Species

Species Name: Diospyros virginiana -L.-

Common Name: persimmon tree

Myaamia Name: pyaakimišaahkwi

Description:

Harvest Seasons: Winter

Harvest Comments:

Habitats: Beech-Maple Forest, Wet Prairie grasslands with flooding, Conifer Shrubland and Forest, Conifer Swamp some deciduous domts.

Uses: Food, Medicinal

Locations: Undetermined

Sources

Gonella, M.P 2003-2006

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

Persimmon pudding (24 servings (one 9x13 pan). Beat: 2 eggs. Add: 1 1/2 cups sugar, 2 cups persimmon pulp. Sift: 1 ¾ cup flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon. Combine in separate bowl: 1 cup half & half, 1 cup buttermilk, 1 tsp. baking soda. Add dry ingredients to persimmon alternately with milk.  Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Can also be made using gluten free flour mixture with delicious success. Bake at 325* for 60 minutes. Serve hot or cold with a dab of whipped cream on top.

Comments: N/A

Kellogg, L.P. 1923

Reference Type: Use - Medicinal

Archival Data:

Fruit is made into a paste which is baked into loaves. "The Indians make a paste of the fruit, which they bake into loaves of the thickness of a man's finger, and of the consistence of a dried pear. The taste seems at first somewhat disagreeable, but people are easily accustomed to it. It is very nourishing, and a sovereign remedy, as they pretend, against a looseness and bloody-flux".

Comments: N/A

Rafert, S. 1996

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

Persimmons were used as a snack food when in the woods.

Comments: N/A

Aatotankiki myaamiaki 1998-2006

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

Barbara Mullin's mother, Julia Lankford, gathered wild persimmons in the woods around the homestead at Timber Hill.

Comments: N/A

Gatschet, A.S. ca. 1895

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

Persimmon fruits are dried. ". . . When the arrived home they had left at the place where he had been drying his wife persimmons . . .", "napiatchi manahwilitchi; niaha da passamelidci wiwali piakimini").

Comments: N/A

Gonella, M.P 2003-2006

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

Persimmons were used for jelly by Peggy McCord's grandmother Geboe.

Comments: N/A

Gonella, M.P 2003-2006

Reference Type: Horticultural Info

Archival Data:

Harvesting and preparation for use: "They must fall to the ground to be ripe. Not quit ripe persimmons taste terrible. This time of year early October for southeast Indiana is when they start to fall. Check under the tree every day and collect. Wash and take out seeds. I take seeds out by hand. Its a messy job but very effective. You can then run the remains of the seed through a food mill to make a pulp and eliminate the skin. This is the pulp used in the recipe. The pulp can be frozen".

Comments: N/A

Peoria, Eastern Shawnee, Wyandotte, Seneca-Cayuga, Miami and Ottawa Tribes 2003

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

Persimmons are gathered for food.

Comments: N/A

Gleason, H.A. and Cronquist, A. 1991

Reference Type: Habitat

Archival Data :

Occurs mostly in dry-soiled woods in eastern and western Myaamia lands,

Comments: N/A

Masthay, C. 2002

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

“Persimmon” is an English loan from the Powhatan word 'pessi-min', meaning ‘peel/husk-fruit’. Plural is 'pessi-minas', both are inanimate words. The Proto-Eastern Algonquian word for persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) is '*pehši-mini'. The Unami Delaware word for persimmon is 'xí·mi·n' for expected '*pəxi·min' (Siebert 1975, p. 367).

Comments: N/A

Dunn, J.P. ca. 1900

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

"piakimindjakwi"

Comments: N/A

Gravier, J. ca. 1700

Reference Type: Use - Food

Archival Data:

"I remove the crown [sepals] from a persimmon, the stem from fruit".

Comments: N/A

Bush, L. L 1996

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

Human-charred persimmon floral material was recovered from excavations at an early 19th century Myaamia village site at the forks of the Wabash River (Ft Wayne) 1975-1812 (Ehler Site).

Comments: N/A

McPherson, A. and S. McPherson. 1977

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

The common name persimmon is of Algonquian origin and is taken from the Delaware word pasimenan, meaning dried fruit.

Comments: N/A

Pinet, P.F. 1696-circa 1700

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

"piakiminja", persimmon

Comments: N/A

Tippman, D. 1999

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

Jim Strack recalled seeing a recipe in a cookbook when he was growing up that called for persimmons to flavor the meat of a opossum.

Comments: N/A

Clark, J.E 1993

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

The Shawnee collected this plant for food.

Comments: N/A

Bush, L. L 1996

Reference Type: Related Info

Archival Data:

Archaeological studies have demonstrated that persimmons were utilized as a food resource by Late Woodland 800 A.D to 1300 A.D. indigenous peoples of central and southern Indiana.

Comments: N/A

Legends

  • L.: L. stands for Carl Linneaus, a Swedish botanist and zoologist living from 1707 - 1778, who formed the binomial nomenclature system for scientific naming of species (the two part name). His initial after a scientific name indicates he was the authority for that species name.
  • sp.: Indicates the actual species name cannot or need not be specified. Example: Lilium sp. indicates a single species in the genus Lilium that is not known or does not need to be specified.
  • spp.: (plural) indicates "several species", two or more species of the given genus. Example: Lilium spp. indicates 2 or more species in the genus that cannot or do not need to be distinguished.
  • Use - Unknown: A record for this plant exists but does not include explicit information about the plant's cultural use. It is probable the Myaamia used the plant.
  • Botanical Sources: Sources of any botanical data for this plant species that is not related to its cultural use or significance.
  • Related Sources: Data indirectly related to Myaamia ethnobotany, including non-Myaamia uses of the plant in contemporary and historic times.
  • Myaamia Archival Sources: All records of plant use obtained directly from a Myaamia tribal member in an interview, recorded by a second party or by self-recording.
  • Undetermined (Plant Use): There exists use or other information about a certain, unknown plant species, but the specific species has not yet been determined.
  • Medicinal: For the purposes of this database, medicinal uses of plants and medicinal knowledge are defined as: Commonly held communal knowledge regarding the use of plant-based substances that aid in maintaining a healthy mind, body or spirit, including tonics and teas.
  • Technology: For the purposes of this database, technological uses of plants are defined as: Plants used in the making of food processing, canoes, rafts, dyes, tools, utensils, weapons, hunting and fishing gear (i.e. net, weir, etc.), cordage, string, rope, fodder plant species, firewood, any plants used in trade, etc.
  • Material: For the purposes of this database, material uses of plants are defined as: Plants used in construction of dwellings (floor mats, roofing, side walls), furniture, baskets, storage items, musical instruments, games, crafts, jewelry, cordage used in crafts, etc.
  • Food: For the purposes of this database, food uses of plants are defined as: Plants used as consumed food, spices and seasonings, but not teas or tonics.
  • Customs: For the purposes of this database, customary uses of plants are defined as: Plants involved in a customary ceremony, ritual or traditional event, including ritual smoking, chewing tobacco, war rituals, special mats used to sit on during ceremonies. Customary uses of plants, in this database, does not including plants used for recreation (material), structures where ceremonies take place (material) or medicinal smoking (medicinal).
  • Eastern Myaamia Lands: Eastern Myaamia lands (eastern myaamionki) are centered around northern Indiana, and including western Ohio, eastern Illinois, southern Michigan, and the northernmost portions of Kentucky.
  • Western Myaamia Lands: Western Myaamia lands (western myaamionki) include western Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma.