Happy Mystery Monday on this Halloween week! Today’s mystery is just starting to show its color despite most plants going dormant for the winter. This forest floor denizen has purple spots on its leaves and is bright purple underneath. What is it?
We had a great response to last week’s mystery! The mystery fruit was the native persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), one of the last fruits to ripen in our region. Right now, the fruits are very astringent, but come November and frosty weather, these fruits will be pleasantly orange and very sweet!
William Burton MD says
That is sure not what my persimmons look like and not what it looks like in standard reference material. Are you sure this is the right photo? And it is not responsible as you introduce this fruit to people not to caution it is the world’s most frequent cause of phytobezoar
James Wilson says
Dr. Burton,
Dost thou protest too much? Diospyrobezoars are rarely occuring phytobezoars associated with the excessive eating of persimmons.Diospyrobezoars are often very hard and almost woody in consistency. One case in medical literature from 2004 revealed a 51-year old patient who had eaten a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of unpeeled persimmons each day for 40 years (Altinli et al. 2004)!
alice sewell says
Tipularia discolor orchid