Cannonball Tree

Couroupita guianensis is a tree that reaches heights of up to 35 metres (110 ft). The leaves, which occur in clusters at the ends of branches, are usually 8 to 31 cm (3.1 to 12.2 in) long, but can reach lengths of up to 57 cm (22 in).

Flowers. The flowers are borne in racemes up to 80 cm (31 in) long produced directly on the tree's trunk. They are considered an extreme example of cauliflory named flagelliflory. Some trees flower profusely until the entire trunk is covered with racemes. One tree can hold as many as 1000 flowers per day. The flowers are strongly scented, and are especially fragrant at night and in the early morning. They are up to 6 cm (2.4 in) in diameter, with six petals, and are typically brightly coloured, with the petals ranging from shades of pink and red near the bases to yellowish toward the tips. There are two areas of stamens: a ring of stamens at the centre, and an arrangement of stamens that have been modified into a hood.

Fruit. The fruit is spherical with a woody shell, and reaches a diameter of up to 25 cm (10 in), giving the species the common name "cannonball tree". Smaller fruit may contain about 65 seeds, while large ones can hold as many as 550. One tree can bear 150 fruit at a time. The fruit takes up to a year to mature in most areas, sometimes as long as 18 months. …

Although the flowers lack nectar, they are very attractive to bees, which come for the pollen. The flowers produce two types of pollen: fertile pollen from the ring stamens, and sterile pollen from the hood structure. The pollinators must work their way between the two areas of stamens as they gather the pollen. The carpenter bee Xylocopa brasilianorum is a common pollinator of cultivated trees in Rio de Janeiro, just outside the tree's native range. Other carpenter bees such as Xylocopa frontalis, as well as wasps, flower flies, and bumblebees, are also known to visit the flowers.

Couroupita guianensis is planted as an ornamental tree for its showy, scented flowers, and as a botanical specimen for its fruit. The fruit is edible but is not usually eaten by people because, in contrast to its intensely fragrant flowers, it can have an unpleasant smell. Parts of the plant have been used in traditional medicine. It has been used to treat hypertension, tumors, pain, and inflammation, the common cold, stomachache, skin conditions and wounds, malaria, and toothache, although data on its efficacy are lacking. The fruit and flowers are known to contain the chemical compounds indigotin and indirubin, the same blue dye compounds contained by the indigo plant (Indigofera tinctoria), and studies are being made of its possible use as a natural dye for fibres.

While the tree is not native to Asia, having only been introduced there in the last 300 years, its identity has been conflated with other trees mentioned in Hindu and Buddhist scripture, especially the Sal tree. In India and Sri Lanka, the tree is venerated by Hindus, who believe its hooded flowers look like the nāga under which the white stigma looks like a Lingam, and hence, it is grown at Shiva temples. The cannonball tree has since then been planted at Buddhist and Hindu religious sites in Asia in the belief that it is the tree of sacred scriptures. In Sri Lanka, Thailand and other Theravada Buddhist countries it has been planted at Buddhist monasteries and other religious sites.