Dracophilus dealbatus fruit capsules

As is the case for most fruits on earth, these Dracophilus dealbatus ones appear very different from the flowers that brought them about. A fruit’s function, the ripening and releasing the seed of its species for a new generation to succeed the parent plant, centres in the flower’s ovary where the female ovum awaits the male pollen obtained from other floral parts.

A fruit capsule of D. dealbatus contains numerous small seeds in eight to eleven, sometimes up to fourteen compartments arranged like cake slices. Each compartment or locule has a valve on top that opens when wet to release the ripe seeds. The locule valves close again, when dry. Seeds not flushed out during the first rain, will depart during or shortly after subsequent showers. This increases the chances of successful germination, as conditions over time may differ, rather than dropping all the seeds from the “basket” in one go.

This piecemeal functioning of the opening and closing capsules is called hygrochastic, meaning the dehiscing of capsules in response to moisture (Smith, et al, 1998; iNaturalist; https://www.worldfloraonline.org; https://openaccess.wgtn.ac.nz).