Cauliflory

Cauliflory is a botanical term referring to plants that flower and fruit from their main stems or woody trunks rather than from new growth and shoots.[1] This can allow trees to be pollinated or have their seeds dispersed by animals that climb on trunks and sturdy limbs to feed on the nectar and fruits.[2] With fruit, plants may instead have fruit which drop from the canopy and ripen only after they reach the ground, an alternative "strategy" to cauliflory. (Note that the concept of cauliflory includes that of ramiflory.[1])

Not to be confused with Cauliflower.

Flowers growing from the hard and woody horizontal stem of a Syzygium moorei, Australia

Jackfruits growing directly from the trunk

Families, genera and (some) species

(list incomplete)

• Moraceae
  • Ficus: F. racemosa, F. sansibarica, F. sur, F. sycomorus
  • Artocarpus: A. heterophyllus (jackfruit), A. integer (cempedek, breadfruit)
• Myrtaceae
  • Syzygium S. moorei, S. cormiflorum
  • Plinia: P. cauliflora
• Malvaceae
  • Theobroma: T. cacao[3] (and possibly others)
  • Cola:[4] C. mossambicensis (and possibly others)[4]
  • Crescentia: C. cujete (calabash tree).[5]
  • Pavonia: P. strictiflora
• Fabaceae
  • Cercis: C. siliquastrum[6]
  • Castanospermum: C. australe
• Meliaceae
  • Dysoxylum spp. including D. parasiticum (ramiflorous)[7] and D.spectabile[8]
• Sapindaceae
  • Pancovia:[9] P. golungensis (False soap-berry)[10]
• Caricaceae
  • Carica papaya (Papaya)
• Putranjivaceae
  • Drypetes natalensis (Natal ironplum) (and possibly others)[11]
• Sapotaceae
  • Englerophytum magalismontanum (Stamvrug)
• Stilbaceae
  • Halleria lucida[12] (Tree fuchsia)
• Annonaceae
  • Uvariopsis (all species are ramiflorous, cauliflorous or both.)[13] Cauliflorous species are: U. submontana.[14] U. sessiflora,[13] U. congolana,[13] U. guineensis,[13] U. vanderystii,[13] U. noldeae,[13] U. doica,[13] U. letestui,[13] U. bakeriana,[13] U. solheidii,[13]
• Oxalidaceae
  • Averrhoa bilimbi[15]

Image gallery

• 
  Syzygium moorei fruit
• 
  Ficus (fig)
• 
  Coffee Plant (Coffea)
• 
  Cercis siliquastrum
• 
  Pavonia strictiflora
• 
  Castanospermum australe
• 
  Hippophaë rhamnoides
• 
  Theobroma cacao
• 
  Jabuticaba (Plinia cauliflora)
• 
  Englerophytum magalismontanum
• 
  Halleria lucida
• 
  Acnistus arborescens
• 
  Latua pubiflora

See also

• Ramiflory
• Spur

References

1. "PlantNET: NSW Flora Online: Glossary of Botanical Terms: C, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Australia". Retrieved 23 April 2018.
2. W.P. Armstrong. ""The Truth About Cauliflory"". Archived from the original on 2015-04-30.
3. Govaerts, R. et al. (2018) "Theobroma cacao". Plants of the World online. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
4. Govaerts, R. et al. (2018) "Cola". Plants of the World online. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
5. "Crescentia cujete - the calabash tree". Tropilab. Inc. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
6. Govaerts, R. et al. (2018) "Circis siliquastrum". Plants of the World online. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
7. Govaerts, R. et al. (2018) "Dysoxylum parasiticum ". Plants of the World online. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
8. "Dysoxylom spectabile". NZflora. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
9. Govaerts, R. et al. (2018) "Pancovia ". Plants of the World online. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
10. Govaerts, R. et al. (2018) "Pancovia golungensis ". Plants of the World online. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
11. Govaerts, R. et al. (2018) "Drypetes". Plants of the World online. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
12. "Halleria lucida". GBIF. Retrieved 22 April 2018. (See images)
13. (in French) Gereau, E. R., & Kenfack, D. (2000). Le genre Uvariopsis (Annonaceae) en Afrique tropicale, avec la description d’une espece nouvelle du Cameroun. Adansonia, 22(1), 39-43.
14. Cheek, M. (2014) "Uvariopsis submontana. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014: e.T45421A3001680". Retrieved 22 April 2018. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T45421A3001680.en.(See images)
15. Ahmed, QamarUddin; Alhassan, AlhassanMuhammad (2016). "Averrhoa bilimbiLinn.: A review of its ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry, and pharmacology". Journal of Pharmacy and Bioallied Sciences. 8 (4): 265–271. doi:10.4103/0975-7406.199342. ISSN 0975-7406. PMC 5314823. PMID 28216948.

External links

• The Truth About Cauliflory
• Cauliflory in Malaysian Rainforest Trees