"brafield" wrote in message
...

Thank you for your help, everyone. Yes, everything points to quinces,
and I have double checked on Google for pics; though how I came to
buy the tree as a 'persimmon' I'll never know!

I'm glad to know the fruit is edible if cooked, because the only time
I bit one I hated it --- oddly the flowers don't have a particularly
nice aroma either.

Too late for this year --- yesterday I had to strip the tree and throw
away the fuit because my annual visitor, a very fat black bear, spent
the night in my garden causing havoc and pooping prolifically. Last
year he ripped off one big branch.

The fruit will last for weeks before cooking so there was probably no need
to just throw it out.