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Pushti Fruit Update

Dear Sir,

I am writing to you on behalf of HRH the Duke of York, who until recently was an ardent admirer of your scholastic journal and was considering an offer to grant your journal patronage. However, it has come to our attention that you have either willingly or unwillingly, though it is hard to imagine the latter, printed a scandalous article concerning the reproductive methods of the Pushti monkey and its so-called "relationship" with the Pushti fruit. HRH the Duke of York was extremely upset by the publication of such an ill-founded set of rumors and innuendo concerning what was becoming a favored delicacy of the royal court. We hope that you will seek to redress these scandalous and unscholarly allegations by reprinting the following excerpt from Doctor Havelly's treatise on Martian botany. We ardently hope you will rectify this situation in the near future so that HRH may reconsider your request for patronage.

Sincerely,

Sir Reginald Crompton Perry

on behalf of HRH the Duke of York

Excerpt from Dr. Alan Arthur Havelly's An Introduction to Martian Fauna and Botany

(London: Allan Sutton, 1887)

Fruit, Pushti

A small, oval shaped fruit approximately half the size of an Earth watermelon, averaging some fourteen inches in length. The fruit's flesh is a pale red color, though its flesh is somewhat marbleized, striated, and rough in texture. The fruit grows from a tree averaging eighteen feet in height, and unique to Martian botany, the fruit ripens below ground, thus possessing some of the characteristics of a tuber. The seeds of the Pushti tree are contained not in the fruit, but in the leaves. The leaves of the Pushti tree are consumed by an arboreal ape (See Monkey, Pushti). The juicy meat of the leaves is covered by an indigestible waxy coating, as is the Pushti seed. When these pass though the Pushti Monkey's body, they fall to the ground, where the seed combines with what seems to be some sort of pollen equivalent in the waxy coating of the leaf. The short, but sharp claws of the monkey serve not only as an aid to climbing, but also to loosen the soil as the aggressive creatures engage in ritual combat during mating season. Once stirred into the ground the seed germinates and forms the Pushti fruit, which, if left undisturbed, would transform itself into a new tree. This process, although unusual, has its parallels in other Martian plants, including the well-known garadi bush. Thus, although it has similarities in size an shape to the Earth watermelon, the Pushti fruit itself seems to be more a nut than a fruit. The term Pushti "fruit" is actually somewhat of a misnomer, as the Pushti fruit seems to have more in common with a chestnut than a watermelon.

by Matthew Ruane and Jeffrey Boyle

Posted Monday, 04-May-2009 19:50:47 EDT