Isn't this curious? I don't seem to have ever paid this much attention to Pieris japonica, but it was a nice splash of colour long before I was expecting any, and there were all these fruits facing up, yet all the new flowers hanging down. If fruits and flowers were going to orient themselves opposite ways, I'd have expected it to work the other way, with heavier fruits hanging down. I had to work at convincing myself that the fruits and flowers were from the same shrub. And is this Pieris japonica 'Passion'?
The stalks becoming stiff and erect presumably enhances seed dispersal. Looks like 'Passion' is differently colored in flower. Passion Party Passion Lily of the Valley Shrub - Monrovia - Passion Party Passion Lily of the Valley Shrub And since it's not familiar to me probably too recently introduced to be the same as specimen asked about (US patent description would give the history of 'Passion').
The word to describe the phenomenon is resupinate (or resupination). Note that a plant organ (flower, leaf, fruit) can become resupinate either through growth or through dessication (as in this case).
