Pilosocereus sp. fruit    8/23/21
Six weeks after fertilization these fruit fell out of the white wool of the left plant. I had been feeling the fruit swelling up gradually by sticking my fingers into the wool. I was hoping to see the fruit growing and ripening, but, no dice. So that mass of white hair which must be present for flowering also seems to have the function of hiding the fruit as it ripens. And, the fruit, when ripe, splits open (the technical term for this is a form of the word "dehiscent") before it falls off the plant. Strikingly colored fruit and pulp, by the way. This is a common strategy among plants. That is, protect the fruit somehow as it ripens. When ripe, make the fruit and its ripe seeds visible and available for spreading by whatever eats the fruit, thereby spreading the seeds in potentially favorable habitats for germination, and growth, and maturation, and making more seeds, etc. I collected the seeds (about 200)? and I will do my biological duty by sowing them sometime.   (010/112)   

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