When southern orchardists embraced the Japanese persimmons at the end of the nineteenth century, they found that the Hachiya favored in California did not thrive. So they turn attention to the Tanenashi as the choicest large kaki suited to the warm zones. A self pollinating variety, the Tanenashi was an astringent persimmon that needed to ripen thoroughly before becoming meltingly delicious. Bright orange, the fruit had yellow flesh and few seeds. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Tanenashi was the first choice at the produce stand and and the nursery. The tree required minimal care once established. In commercial production the fruit were picked before ripe and found to withstand train transport well. What made the market for the Tanenashi was its bright and clean appearance. Connoisseurs of persimmons thought the Hyakume was larger, juicier, and more flavorful. The Tanenashi remained the premier market variety in the South through the 20^th century.  “Processing of Japanese Persimmons, Experiments at Glen St. Mary Florida,” Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Chemisty (1911), 12. William Macklin, “The Kaki,” Transactions of the Florida Horticultural Society (1905), 64.

 “Large to very large, roundish conical, pointed, very smooth and symmetrical; diameter 3 ¼ inches longitudinally and 3 3/8 inches transversely; skin light yellow, changing to bright red at full maturity; flesh yellow and seedless; quality very fine; perhaps the most highly esteemed of the light fleshed kinds. Tree vigorous and bears well, though fleshed not as prolific as some.” Tabor, Glen St. Mary, Nursery, Florida 1894, 23.     

Nurseries in the South that sold the Tane-nashi persimmon prior to 1920:

Alabama Nursery, Huntsville, AL 1900.  American Exotic Nursery, Seven Oaks, FL 1895. Atlanta Nursery, Atlanta, GA 1891-95. Clingman Nurseries & Orchard, Keithville, LA 1908. Fruitlands, Augusta, GA 1893-96, Glen St. Mary Nursery, Glen St. Mary, FL 1894-1907. Old Dominion Nurseries, Richmond, VA 1902-07. Turkey Creek Nurseries, McClenny, FL 1906. Van Lindley Nursery, Pomona, NC 1909.

Image: U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705, Deborah Passmore, 1906. 

David S Shields