Fun at work..

[cowboy]

Got bored on a Saturday and went exploring . Have some small brushy lookin trees here on the jobsite (San Antonio). My old inspector told me they were wild persimmon - and showed me one of the fruits (dried up and hard) but be danged if it didn't look like a persimmon. Anyway I went and cut a few down by the creek where their cutting in new roads for a housing addition.
 Took a picture of the grove I cut out of - it looks a lot like crepe myrtle to me with the slick bark. But if it actually is persimmon, thought it just might work . Took my little haul back to the jobsite and went to work on one machete style . All the guys got a kick out of it and had to stop by to see what the goins on was. Just to chat........
 

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[wvfknapper]

Cowboy

Thats not the same persimmon we have here in WV,, The persimmons here has a rough blocky type bark and the sap wood is white and black heartwood ...........Did you get a picture of the fruit? How big was it?

Nice haul either way

wvflintknapper

[wvfknapper]

http://www.mwrop.org/W_Needham/Persimmon_051023.htm

Here is some pictures

[cowboy]

Wow Robert - now that's a fruit bearing tree! That's what they look like around the house, but their must be variation's around. I didn't get a picture of the fruit but it looked just like a little dried up persimmon..

[wvfknapper]

Cowboy

There is a few other types, one is  a fuyu Japanese type but I couldn't find a good posture of the tree,,,,,,,Plus there is a Mexican variety  and some others,, maybe someone on here can identify them..........Does it seem like hard dense wood?

wvflintknapper

[DanaM]

Never miss an oppurtunity to harvest something eh cowboy

Man you are addicted big time

[cowboy]

You busted me Dana . In all the travels my work takes me to a lot of different areas and I never ever go home without something in the back of the truck, hehe - yep I've become a junkie .

[Hillbilly]

Good looking stuff Paul. I'm with you, look a lot more like crape myrtle than persimmon, let us know how it turns out. I hear you on the collecting-I'm always getting these "what the heck is all that wierd stuff in the back of your truck" questions......

[cowboy]

Hillbilly: .
 It is some heavy stuff - but it's wet. The rings are about an eighth inch and it smells like some kind of weed when you start working on it.

[Hillbilly]

Did a little research, and looks like your wood is Mexican or Texas persimmon (Diospyros texana.) Let us know how this turns out, you may have just discovered the next osage or guava

Diospyros texana Scheele
Chapote, Mexican persimmon, Texas persimmon
Ebenaceae (Ebony Family)
USDA Symbol: DITE3
USDA Native Status: Native to U.S.
Shrub or small tree with very hard wood. Common in brushy areas on level uplands stony hillsides and lower slopes. Bark light gray smooth thin on some trunks peeling in rectangular flakes and exposing a pinkish layer beneath. Leaves up to 2 inches long but most about half this length firm textured rounded or slightly notched at the tip and tapering to the base; margins smooth rolled down. Flowers urn shaped whitish about 3/8 inch wide arranged singly or in small clusters among the new leaves; male and female on separate plants appearing in March and April. Fruit fleshy round up to 1 inch in diameter black and sweet when ripe ripening from late July into September.

The edible black persimmons stain teeth lips and hands and have been used as a dye. When immature they are strongly astringent. The heartwood found only in very large trunks is black like that of related ebony (Diospyros ebenum) while the sapwood is clear yellow

[Sidewinder]

Good job cowboy. Your a man after my own heart. I'll bet you make a great bow out of it. Danny

[Otoe Bow]

Nice haul Paul.  Where's your job site?  That one picture with the tree looks like the McAllister Park area off Wurzbach.  That place was crawling with the stuff,  of course the whole San Antonio area looks like that.

Otoe   

[cowboy]

thanks for doing the research Steve - now ya got me wanting to go back down there and get a truckload (just in case ). that's the one allright - they were growing on a rocky mound. As a matter of fact I found where someone had been digging for artifacts there too, found their sifting screen also.
 Hey Mike: I've heard of Wurzbach, but your right - this whole area looks purty much like that. I'm on the SW side of SA - on hwy 90 West heading toward Hondo. I'm gonna go check em out again .