[6] It ranges from southern Connecticut to Florida, and west to Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa.

[8] It has a short, slender trunk and spreading, often pendulous branches, which form a broad or narrow, round-topped canopy.

The fruit-stalk is very short, bearing a subglobose fruit an inch in diameter or a bit larger, of an orange-yellow color, ranging to bluish, and with a sweetish astringent pulp.

The astringency renders the fruit somewhat unpalatable, but after it has been subjected to the action of frost, or has become partially rotted or "bletted" like a medlar, its flavor is improved.

[12] The tree is very common in the South Atlantic and Gulf states, and attains its largest size in the basin of the Mississippi River.

[8] Its fossil remains have been found in Miocene rocks of Greenland and Alaska and in Cretaceous formations in Nebraska.

[8] Diospyros virginiana is considered to be an evolutionary anachronism that was consumed by one or more of the Pleistocene megafauna that roamed the North American continent until 10,000 years ago.

Wild varieties contain a lot of seeds, making the processing of fruit pulp used in food and beverage manufacture more difficult.

Cultivation has reduced the number of seeds, and some varieties have developed a very sweet flavor profile without the dreaded astringency of wild persimmon.

[15] The tree prefers light, sandy, well-drained soil, but will grow in rich southern bottom lands.

It is eaten by birds, raccoons, skunks, white-tailed deer, semi-wild hogs, flying squirrels, and opossums.