Diospyros
a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Ebenaceæ. They consist of trees and shrubs, with white or pale yellow flowers. D. lotos is the Indian date plum, and is supposed by some to be the lotus of the ancients. The trees of several of the species furnish ebony wood. The fruit of D. kaki is occasionally brought from China as a dry sweetmeat, and D. virginiana is the date plum, the bark of which is employed as a febrifuge, along the Mississippi, in cases of cholera infantum and diarrhea. A kind of cider has been made from this fruit, and a spirituous liquor distilled from its fermented infusion.