Thanks all! This really helps me solve the mystery, I am very happy about that 🙂 I may have been partially thrown off because I have other persimmon seedlings whose leaf margins are quite serrated. The seed packet was labeled "wild persimmon" and if I recall it was also labelled D. virginiana but that also might have been an assumption on my part. I am attaching a photo; is this also a D. virginiana? 

I did try germinating some D. lotus the last two years with no luck. I'll be looking for another seed source this fall.

Wow Reinettes, thank you! You helped me figure out where the label from the persimmon ended up... in the now mystery prunus (will be checking my notes to see if I can figure that one out, but yes I have sown seeds from least one kind of sweet cherry). It is silly how obvious that seems now in hindsight. I was so set on the label being what it was. But thinking back now at the last property I did have some jays that kept pulling out my wooden markers, when they weren't after my plum sprouts, and I was always scrambling to get them back in place. I obviously returned the persimmon label in the wrong pot! Funny how I wanted to believe those were persimmons even though it didn't look right. We are in a new property now and so far the squirrels and jays here aren't as interested in my nursery thank goodness, but still I love the grease pencil idea. I didn't even know such a thing existed. I will definitely be double labeling with grease pencils! Thanks again.