26/09/2025
What strange things pepperberries are... They belong to the plant family Winteraceae which has a mix of plants species but many of them, like Tasmannia lanceolata, have male flowers on male plants and female flowers on female plants. However, some of the other species can 'change s*x', often induced by environmental stress factors such as heat. Tasmanian Mountain Pepper is not known for this and are described as "functionally unis*xual" (Dennis Morris, TMAG) except for now! The photo is of a single berry on a 9-year-old male plant (taken during harvest in May 2025). Never seen it before, and perhaps never will again, but it obviously can happen. Apparently the male flowers have "rudimentary ovaries" which never develop (but as Bob Dylan would sing "Most of the time")
