Fruit flags in a temperate evergreen shrub Corokia cotoneaster (Escalloniaceae)

Abstract

Fruit flags are visual signals, other than fruits themselves, which attract frugivorous birds. In Corokia cotoneaster, an evergreen temperate New Zealand shrub, a scattering of leaves become coloured in autumn at the same time as the bird-dispersed fruits are mature; the leaves are similar to ripe fruit in shape and colour and may serve especially to attract birds to sparsely, fruiting bushes.

Keywords:

• Corokia cotoneaster
• Escalloniaceae
• fruit flags
• fruit dispersal
• New Zealand