QUESTION: Male bloom produces a fruit --Can
it produce a fruit?
ANSWER: I have seen Papaya male blooms produce
a fruit and C.D. Perego at:http://www.webspawner.com/users/cdperego/index.html
sends these images with the write-up which reads:
After growing large martin house gourds for 12 years from the
same seed line, some of my gourds have borne small seedless gourds
at a few of the pollinator flowers. They Form at the bottom of
the Calyx as if the flower was a seed producer instead of a pollinator
that has no style and stigma. Dissection reveals that only anthers
are present in the type flowers that make a fruit. These pollinator
flowers produced gourds are very small , but very hard shelled
. ranging in size from about 1 or 2 inches diameter to about 3
or 4 inches diameter, they have for the first time been produced
by my bottle gourds this year. They are hollow when dry, but contain
a pulp while growing .
I don't believe its unheard of ; just somewhat rare. The pollinator
flowers that will produce the curious fruit develop a bulbous
portion just above the top of the stem at the bottom of the calyx
If undisturbed this bulb grows into a small gourd after the flower
withers . The bottom part of the calyx doesn't wither. Inside
the bulb there has already formed a globular container(the young
tender shell) that is complete extending under the nectar area
and is full of pulp that later becomes placental -like, but no
sign of ovules can be seen . I have found that the soft, tender
shell is formed before the flower has opened and becomes hard
and durable with a scar where the flower had been .
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