Couroupita guianensis

Flower of the Cannonball tree ( Couroupita guianensis )

The cannonball tree ( Couroupita guianensis ) is a tree species of the family pot fruit tree crops ( Lecythidaceae ). He is one of only three species of the comprehensive genus Couroupita.

Description

The cannonball tree reaches a height of up to 35 meters. Pushed to the ends of branches oblong- elliptic leaves sit. They are eight to 30, rarely up to 60 centimeters long and three to four inches wide. The upper leaf surface is hairless on the underside of the leaf veins and in particular the axils of the leaf veins are hairy. At the base of the blade runs in a wedge shape in the 0.5 to three centimeters long petiole from the front end is pointed or blunt ends with a short patch tip. The leaf margin is slightly wavy and busy at the ends of the leaf veins with minute glandular teeth. The leaves are up to four times a year completely dropped and replaced within a week by newly expelled.

The inflorescence arises on the trunk and older branches. He is first unbranched, but grows over a long period, branches, and can be up to 3.5 meters long after several years. It always form at the top of new flowers, rare form on the inflorescence axis and leaves. The single flower sits at a 1.2 to six inches long pedicel and measures five to six inches in diameter. The six sepals are fused to a wide - triangular front corner together. The six petals are yellow on the outside, inside dark red to pink. Approximately 600 to 700 stamens are fused to the base of their filaments into a ring. The ring sits on one side of tongue- shaped and bent away. At the bend of this extension are no stamens, only further forward again. These stamens are fused on the extension to three to six in groups with each other, there are also sterile before. The pollen of the two stamen types is shaped differently. The ovary is surrounded by a bell-shaped flower cups. As pollinators different bees were observed, such as from the genera Apis, Bombus, Xylocopa and Trigona. From pollinated flowers are brown, spherical fruits develop with a diameter of twelve to 24 inches. In the front third of the fruit, the attachment points of the sepals are seen. The fruits have a woody shell and fall closed from the tree. They contain 80 to 300 seeds oval, which are embedded in a fibrous pink slurry.

Dissemination

The species is native to northern South America. In the north, the area is sufficient to Panama and Costa Rica ( there may only be planted ) in the southwest along the eastern slope of the Andes to Ecuador, in the southeast to about the mouth of the Amazon in Brazil. Due to the spread as ornamental tree the natural area can not be determined with certainty.

Documents

• Ghillean T. Prance: Couroupita. In: Scott A. Mori, T. Ghillean Prance (ed.): Flora Neotropica Monograph. Lecythidaceae Part II The zygomorphic -flowered New World genera. 21, No. 2, 1990.