How to Tell the Sex of a Persimmon Tree

Persimmons are popular fruit -- soft, sweet and tasty when eaten raw or cooked. The most common species available are the Oriental persimmon (Diospyros kaki), which is hardy to USDA zone 7; and the American persimmon (D. virginiana), hardy to zone 5. American persimmon trees are usually male or female, though an occasional tree with both types of flowers can be found. Oriental persimmons can also be male or female but sometimes bear flowers of a different sex in other years. Most varieties, however, are able to set fruit without pollination, and commercially available grafted trees will bear fruit.

Magnifying glass

Examine the flowers of your persimmon when blooms are fully open. Using a magnifying glass, examine the interior of three or four flowers to make sure you have a representative sample.

Look for a small central stalk, the pistil. This is the female organ of the flower, the place that catches the pollen released by the male stamens. In a female persimmon flower, it will be surrounded by a group of small immature stamens that do not produce pollen.

Another clue that you have a female flower is that it will be a single cream-colored flower on the twig, not part of a group.

Look for stamens in a ring around the the center of the flower. If you see no central pistil and there are a group of stamens, you have a male flower. Another indication would be finding the flower as part of a group of three pink-tinged blossoms.

If you're looking for a purely ornamental tree and don't want to be bothered with cleaning up fruit beneath it, look for a male tree or buy a named variety that is certified as male.

If a variety that sets seedless fruit without pollination, called a parthenocarpic tree, is pollinated by a nearby male, the fruit may be of inferior quality: seedy, larger and with a different flavor and texture. Oriental persimmons, however, are not pollinated by American persimmons.