I’ve been thinking of a bit of an edge case here that I’ve run into recently… Let’s consider a fruit that is physically separated from its parent organism but whose seeds have not undergone germination yet. Let’s say an observation contains only media featuring such fruit. For the sake of researc…

My own intuition is that the only eligible subject in this kind of observation is the parent plant not featured and that it is incorrect to annotate it as fruiting without evidence of current state. With fruit notionally constituting the “evidence of presence” of the plant.

One thing that is important to keep in mind is how variable the life histories of different plants are. Most plants have fruit that naturally decay quickly, and there is unlikely to be any temporal data quality issue by annotating them as fruiting. Other things, such as coconuts in Iceland and grape…

We ID on the available evidence in the photo. I see fruit - and have always annotated that as fruit. From forum conversations I realise that scientists have a more nuanced view - but the average ‘engage with nature’ iNatter sees fruit. End of. I have a papwpaw from a friend, but her tree came dow…

Staff have noted that fruits should generally be considered evidence of the parent plant until they germinate [image] A Question About Pine Cones (& Other Cultivated Plant Seeds) You’re talking about the actual fruit itself, correct? Not the plants that grow out of the seeds? Personally, for iNa…

[image] natev: However, in those two examples, the observation cannot be evidence for the parent plant, as the parent plant could literally be on the other side of the planet. If it’s a cultivated plant, marking it as such would remove it from maps anyway.

Yes, thank you. If my wording was not clear: I do intend the question for the sake of research grade observations. Which upon further reflection means that the subject must be an organism. And, in my head, to consider fruit — a vessel for propagules — as organism feels very wrong.

A good example of a fruit as a single subject is this olive though I’m but wary about fruits, given: Tomatoes, berries, fruits, and vegetables - discuss!

So this coconut: https://www.inaturalist.ca/observations/232092665 is evidence for the parent palm tree that dropped it into the ocean where it wandered on currents, apparently for quite a while, before washing up on the island where it was observed? According to the concept of the extended phenot…

Independent of Richard Dawkins “extended phenotype” it is clear that flowers and fruit, dropped / dispersed or not, are made of tissue of the parent plant (mainly) / are part of the parent plant. Means if a fruit is documented on iNat “ parent plant not featured in media” can’t be chosen, as this…

It appears that you might be focusing on a minor distinction in colloquial language. The spirit of that option is in fact that we are pointing at the tissue of the parent plant featured as its detached fruit and referring to the parent plant unseen manifested as this evidence. It’s only that the p…

Can fruit be an independent subject?

General

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When do you apply the annotation "fruiting" to flowering plants? General question	37	2013	November 21, 2023
Plant Phenology annotation values General	39	3109	September 2, 2020
Why is "no evidence of flowering" included in the chart? General	67	2504	December 29, 2023
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Can fruit be an independent subject?

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