Intersexual comparison of the traits analyzed in the study.

nF and nH - sample sizes for females and hermaphrodites (individuals or cladodes), respectively. “Cladode no.” – the number of cladodes per branching level. “Cladode size” concerns the 1st-level cladodes. The numbers of cladodes per branching level per plant were compared using K-W, and other variables using GLM or ANOVA. In all GLM tests when cladode was a unit of comparison, the variable “plant” was nested in the variable “sex.” The number of individuals of each sex in the nested comparisons is in parentheses after the number of cladodes. Total phenolic compounds (TPCs) are given in equivalents of tannic acid (TA) per fresh biomass (FB) [mg eqTA g−1 FB]. Significant P values are in bold. *– means and CI for non-transformed data; significance test for square-root–transformed data; **– plants bearing more than one fruit; ***– means and CI for non-transformed data; significance test for ln-transformed data.