The Faux Flower

  While out walking PJ for his last run of the day, I noticed what looked like a lovely flower on the ground.  Hmm?  This was not some easily recognizable blossom.  I thought that I was, at least, basically familiar with all of the blooms around the hillside, yet, here was one that I did not know!  This called for a bit of closer observation.  Not wanting to "uproot" some ground cover bloom, I knelt near the object.  It was then that I realized the old woman's eyesight was far worse that she knew! What my eyes saw as a bloom was nothing more than the stem cap from a wild persimmon.  I should have realized this from the get-go since I have seen these a thousand times before. In my defense, however, none of the previous stem caps have ever had the rich colors of this one.  Instead of being either the bright green of an unripe fruit or the dried brown of a luscious ripe persimmon, this was tri-colored.  The center was a rusty red, surrounded by a autumn gold and then edged with cool blue.  The "petals" were highlighted with a deep brown!  It sure resembled a flower!

  Once I realized that what my unknown bloom was, I started searching the branches for the first few ripe persimmons.  None were ready, yet. This is understandable since we need a frost to fully sweeten the fruits to their tasty deliciousness!  Had I snacked on one today, my mouth would have puckered and I would have instantly regretted my hastiness. 

  The "flower" was obviously discarded by a raccoon that had raided the tree last night.  For some odd reason, the tartness and astringency of the unripe persimmons does not seem to effect the critters as much as it does humans.  We lean towards taste over nutrition.  The raccoon knew that the persimmons would provide a nutritious meal.  I just hope he grows tired of eating persimmons before he totally clears my tree! I would love to have a few as a snack come this winter.  In the meantime, I will enjoy the raccoon's castoff "flowers" and maybe sip a cup of persimmon leaf tea while I wait for a frost!