^Oh, your fruit size is about the same as the one that belonged to my potted plant (#10). Can you later post if they get any bigger?
8/25/08- Some bad news rolling in. Plant #10 has died. I came home from school and found that its small fruit had fallen off. The stem was dark and shriveled. At the moment I don't know if the fruit was ripe or near-ripe. Since the fruit is still tender, I am going to leave it on the table in the sun and see what happens tomorrow.
8/26/08- Holy smokes!!! Boy am I happy!
This afternoon after getting home, I went out to check on my plants. After checking my CPs I went to check the fruit I left out in the sun (from plant #10). The entire thing had shed the fruit skin/tissue. The fruit skin came off in four portions and the claw was left! The claw is about 2.7 inches from stem to the longest claw tip.
NOTE: Whenever I give claw length in the future, it will refer to the length from the claw's stem to the longest claw tip, accounting for the curve of the claw.
Since this fruit was small, the claw itself did not have a curve. It was also less woody and less dense than I first thought it would be, again probably due to the possibility that it may be underdeveloped. Along the ventral side, the claw has a line of short and sharp spine-like projections. The claw itself is very sharp. I later opened up the claw, which was easy to do probably due to its size and due to the fact that its capsule was not dense at all.
The claw yielded a total of 11 seeds. All of the seeds seem smaller when compared to the seed I used earlier in the season. However all of them are white and seem fine, except for their size. There was also some undeveloped seed in there that were tiny and dark in color. Obviously these are not viable.
Secondly, I decided to harvest the claw on plant #1. The claw has now split entirely, but the fruit skin remains, although it is mostly dry and leathery to the touch. This one seems to be average size, being about 11.75 inches long. I will be keeping this claw inside and allow it to dry and to further split open. I don't want to risk leaving it outside and have any critters stealing the fruits of my labor. Later, I will open up the claw and count seed.
Since the patch has become quite dense I decided to check closely and see if any further fruits have begun to ripen. I tried to look carefully at the lower portions of the plants, as this is where their oldest fruits are located. Remember how I posted that the huge branch on plant #1 had fallen? Well, this cleared a big area towards the rear of the patch, allowing me to get a great view of plant #2. As I searched, I took advantage of this new opening and BINGO! There it was… a huge fruit on the center stalk on plant #2 was also dehiscing. I went in for the harvest.
As I got closer, I saw that it had split dramatically. In fact this one was multi-clawed, having four individual hooks! As I pulled the claw, the loose fruit skin fell of with ease. Again, like the fruit from plant #10 the skin came apart in four portions. As I continued to pull and twist it off the plant, the thing got my arm and gave me a good scratch. Carefully when working with these things, boys and girls you could loose and eye… or two!
Anyway, I got it off and saw that the seed pod portion was starting to split open as well, exposing the lower seeds. The seeds were so close to the opening, that if I would had left it in the patch any longer I would have lost some of the seed. The approximate length of this claw is 12 inches. Now this one looks like the real thing. It's diabolical looking with all the signature characteristics. Its hard, woody, dark, and the claw portions are flexible unlike the claw from plant #10. I have no seed count yet as I am letting it dry out as much as possible before opening the capsule.
As I was inspecting the claw at my desk later at night, two seeds fell out.
Overall, I'd say this was a great day! I am going to contact Evin to see what is the best way to store the seed so I can use them for next season and of course, give some away!
8/27/08- (morning) The claw from #1 split some more overnight. The fruit skin became so loose that it practically fell of when I handled the claw this morning. The claw from #2 also seems to have split a bit more as I can see deeper into the seed capsule.
I did some additional web searching and found two blog sites that mention the claws. One shows how some of them are used as decorations. Overall they are both short and fun reads with great pictures. Here are the links:
http://jsiegeldesigns.blogspot.com/2008/03/devils-claw.html
http://pudgeduck.blogspot.com/2008/02/devils-claw.html
I want to get some new pictures of the patch and the new claws. So look out for them some time in the near future!
Thanks!
-Joel