Melianthus major fruit

Pale green Melianthus major fruit replace the erect raceme of dark flowers, covering their sturdy stalk densely.

The stalked, pendulous fruits are inflated, four-lobed to four-winged. The leathery lobes are vertically ridged and hairless, gradually sloping to the recessed seams where they join in a samara structure. The lobes continue in elaborate curves at top and particularly the bottom, where the style may persist in the centre.

Some ripening fruit in picture are beginning to turn red. Ripe seeds are black and shiny, without arils (Manning, 2007; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984).