Persimmon

Diospryos virginiana

Persimmons tend to grow in a range of habitats, including river valleys, dry uplands, clearings, and roadsides. You will find this tree near a creek bed in the Park Ridge East forest. This particular persimmon stood out to me because most of the trunk had fallen over, but part of the outer trunk (the bark, made up of phloem, cork cambium, and cork) was left standing in the soil. The tree likely rotted from the bottom up; with a weakened base, it fell over and broke off at the point where the shell of the trunk is left.