Cauliflory

Cauliflory is the reproductive strategy in which flowers and fruits develop directly on the main trunk or on thick, older branches of a plant, rather than on the ends of new shoots. In cauliflorous species, inflorescences and fruit clusters are often visible along the trunk, sometimes at ground level, rather than high in the canopy.

This pattern occurs primarily in tropical forests and has evolved in several plant families, most notably among mulberry-family relatives such as Theobroma and Artocarpus. The trait is thought to be advantageous in dense, shaded environments because it makes flowers and ripe fruit more accessible to certain pollinators and seed dispersers that use the trunk or lower forest strata, such as bats, primates, and other ground- or trunk-foraging animals. It may also reflect relationships with specific pollinators that operate at these levels or historical dispersal strategies that favor trunk-level fruiting.

Notable examples of cauliflorous plants include Theobroma cacao (cacao), which produces cacao pods on the trunk and larger branches, as well as various Artocarpus species such as breadfruit and jackfruit. Other cauliflorous species occur in tropical regions across different families, illustrating that cauliflory is a convergent trait tied to ecological contexts rather than a single lineage.

In summary, cauliflory describes flowers and fruits arising from the trunk or older branches, a strategy linked to tropical forest ecosystems and involving interactions with trunk-dwelling or low-strata pollinators and dispersers.