Of this large and important genus (to which the ebony tree belongs) only three species are known to be really hardy in this country, although a fourth – D. kaki – will succeed in the warmer counties in the open, and in many places elsewhere against a wall. They are trees with alternate, entire leaves, and the shoots do not form terminal buds. The male and female flowers are on separate trees, and both are small and without beauty. The fruits are large, and beset at the base by the calyx, which continues to grow after the rest of the flower has fallen. These trees like a good loamy soil, and should be raised from seed, except the named varieties of D. kaki, which are grafted on seedlings.
From the Supplement (Vol. V)
The species cultivated in North America are reviewed by Dr Stephen Spongberg in Journal of the Arnold Arboretum, Vol. 58, pp. 147-60 (1977). See also his article in Arnoldia, Vol. 39, pp. 290-310 (1979).