Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Cupuaçu pods

As a follow up to the previous post of the saint's altar, these are the whole cupuaçu fruit pods. Although they belong to the cacao family (genus Theobroma), they are not cauliforous, i.e., they do not develop directly from the trunk of the tree. They aren't ripe until they actually fall on the ground. The shell is hard enough that they normally don't break open on impact. There are exceptions, for example, when they fall from very tall trees in the forest.

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