I found out what the term “cauliflory” means today (a tree that sprouts fruits directly on its trunk, instead of on branches, such as with jaboticaba), and it made me wonder.
Do spur-bearing apples count as being cauliflorious? Especially columnar ones? They grow little fruiting spurs directly on their trunks instead of off on branches somewhere. I have a columnar apple tree that’s fruiting right now, and the fruits are on spurs right off the trunk.
I was thinking originally it would only count if they weren’t on spurs at all, but look:
The Wikipedia article shows syzygiums and jackfruits fruiting on little spurs on the trunk. Just like columnar apple trees.
So . . . is that term accurate to use to describe columnar apple trees?
If so, that may be a way more common plant strategy than people tend to assume, as it may be able to pop up even in species that don’t usually exhibit it. (Such as apples.)