Discriminant analysis of “Jinzaoshi” from persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.; Ebenaceae): A comparative study conducted based on morphological as well as ITS and matK sequence analyses

• The comparative analyses were conducted between “Jinzaoshi” and D. kaki as well as other species found in the provenace of “Jinzaoshi”.
• “Jinzaoshi” was unique for several morphological characteristics even though it was the most similar to D. kaki.
• The genetic distances obtained by ITS and matK sequences between “Jinzaoshi” and the other related species were larger than the minimum inter-specific genetic distances of examined accessions.
• “Jinzaoshi” was confirmed to be monophyletic in the phylogenetic analysis.

“Jinzaoshi”, a persimmon-like tree mainly distributed in the southern part of Zhejiang Province (China), has long been accepted as a cultivar of Diospyros kaki Thunb., even though it remarkably differs from other cultivars or varieties. In this study, the key aspects of plant morphology and sequence variation in the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and maturase K (matK) gene of “Jinzaoshi” were compared with those of D. kaki and other related species to discriminate them. “Jinzaoshi” was morphologically distinguishable from the other Diospyros species on the basis of the features such as the presence of glandular hair on immature branchlets and leaves, joined styles, glabrous corolla ribs, pellicle-covered branches, and black glabrous winter buds. The DNA sequence analysis suggested that the variations between “Jinzaoshi” and the other Diospyros species were larger than the maximum intra-specific and minimum inter-specific genetic distances of the investigated species. A phylogenetic analysis showed that “Jinzaoshi” did not cluster uniformly with the other species. Therefore, we propose that “Jinzaoshi” does not belong to D. kaki and other related Diospyros species and might be a new species of Diospyros L. (Ebenaceae).