Miyakobeni Red Fruited Chinese Persimmon. The Japanese translation of this cultivar name means "metropolitan red." I have brought a number of cultivars of this species from Japan where it is a popular subject for bonsai. I was told that they were Diospyros cathayensis, but I believe that it to be D. rhombifolia, because D. cathayensis is described as evergreen and these are certainly not evergreen. This is a gorgeous red-fruited cultivar which we first saw offered for $650.00 in a consignment nursery in Japan, but I waited a few years until the price came down before purchasing it. In the wild, fruit are described as orange for this species. Most of them are grafted in Japan, but these are from rooted cuttings from our parent plant. For some reason, grafting in Japan is the preferred mode of propagation. Our plants are on their own roots and work much better as bonsai material since one doesn't have the unsightly graft union to deal with. Our plants have flowered the second year on their own roots, and several plants were covered in fruit at two years from a rooted cutting. I was thinking that this species was dioecious, but the reference in Flora of China simply describes male and female flowers but does not state whether it is dioecious (separate male and female plants) or monoecious (separate male and female flowers on the same plant). But since ours have fruited with no males present, it would be assumed that it is the latter. Yoko Arakawa who has worked at Longwood Gardens told me that they had two plants of this species and that they both fruited. And the seed germinated quite well. So this is a mystery as to why seed could set on two female plants. There is a condition among some hollies referred to as "parthenocarpy", where fruit will set without pollination. In its natural habitat this species can reach 25 ft. at maturity, so one would have to perform some judicious pruning on their plant to keep it smaller. The cuttings are quite difficult to root, and a fascinating aspect of these plants is the roots are completely black. So when roots appear, one may think they have all rotted and turned black. They are in the ebony family, Ebonaceae, which is typical for plants in this family. So when you receive your plants and see that the roots are black, don't worry. They are fine.
Zones 6-9
