North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Jwlehman@aol.com]

That would be Keener, allegedly a hybrid bred by Luther Burbank, but I've 
seen more than one person contest its ancestry.     

Several years ago I purchased the set of books titled "Luther Burbank" published in 1914 that were prepaired from his original notes to hopefully learn what varieties and methods he used in his attempts to hybridize the American & kaki persimmon. Wanted to learn what didn't work to seek other methods. It basically had one paragraph that said he tried and failed. 

I suppose he could have achived hybridization and didn't realize it. But that would be highly doubtful given his (and his staff's) keen knowledge of plants and what to look for.  

Interesting note, this 10 book set is full of color photographs. I assume they didn't have the technology to print books in color back then, so each book is loaded with color photographs, all pasted in. My guess is somehwere between 800 to 1,000. 


> Keener has fruited lightly for me the past two years - large fruit, 2.5-3" 
> - much larger than the typical D.virginiana, astringent until ripe, but 
> with good flavor and thin skin more reminiscent of virginiana, to my 
> palate.  Ripens much earlier here than does Rosseyanka, which bore its 
> first crop (2 fruits) this year.



Someone reported to me that Keener has secondary growth and flowering as do some kaki. I've never seen this in D. virginiana. My Keener produces large fruit and the vegitation looks pure virginiana. Except for not being able to explain the secondary flowering I believe it is pure virginiana.  

Jerry