NHD52/20

Japanese persimmon

Diospyros kaki L.f.; Ebenaceae family

Original inscriptions: 鸡心柿 (front lower right in ink); Kai-sum-tseu (reverse lower right in pencil)

Further inscriptions: W. Ch. (front lower left in ink); Diospyrus kaki var. (front lower right in pencil)

Flowering branch of a Japanese persimmon tree. Brown-reddish branch with green, slender twig on top; four obovate green leaves. Close to the lower leaf, a green pedicel with four triangular bracts. Three flowers, two in buds, and one fully bloomed, are depicted shooting out from the base of the green twig. The buds are yellow, the flower is portrayed from the top, showing four green sepals, four yellow petals, and stamens with white filaments are branched out across the whole flower. Lower left: a small reddish coloured twig bearing three fruits, one small and green (immature) and two mature fruit, larger in size and deep orange in colour. The fruit is ovoid in shape, with small upward curling leaves. Lower right: horizontally dissected fruit showing internal star-shaped arrangement of eight seeds; seeds are elliptic and white. Further to the right: depiction of female and male dissected flowers. The flower on the left (female) shows pubescent ovary, attached to the pedicel and a set of four yellow-greenish sepals; a corolla with four lobes, whitish with pinkish-yellow border, and two separate petals. The flower on the right (male) is depicted laterally, showing pedicel, sepals, flower corolla, and two separate petals. On top: depiction of eight pairs of stamens and one stigma, with white filaments and yellow-orange tops.

Any further details: Pencil underdrawings slightly visible.