Couroupita
Cannonball tree ( Couroupita guianensis ), flowers
Couroupita is a genus of plants within the order of the heather -like. Only three tree species from Central and South America are assigned to this genus.
Description
Couroupita trees are the crown layer of medium to giant size. The leaves are in whorls of 7-40 at the tips of the branches. They are 8-30 cm long and mostly bristly hairs along the axils of the secondary veins.
The inflorescences are stengelblütig or rarely stammblütig of the oldest branches. There are grapes or irregular also einzweigige, clump -like arrangements of grapes, the growth of the inflorescence axis is not limited. The flowers are zygomorphic, they consist of six sepals and six petals, stamen, a hood is missing ( at Couroupita nicaraguarensis ) or is flat, the staminodes form dustbag. The ovary is sechskammerig and contains a large number of plant seeds which are disposed in a two-lobed placenta along the entire length of the chamber.
The fruits are not jumping up, fall when ripe from the tree. They are spherical or nearly spherical, the pericarp is brittle and shatters on impact often the fruit on the ground. The fruits contain a variety of seeds, they are 10 to 15 mm long, the surface is hairy, the cotyledons of the embryo are already leaf-like and are opposite. The seeds are surrounded by a pulp, which turns bluish- green when it is exposed to air. Dries the pulp, it is divided into six parts which are crescent-shaped and wedge-shaped in cross-section in longitudinal section.
Occurrences and locations
The genus occurs in Central America from El Salvador to eastern Panama and in South America from the Amazon all the way to Guyana last. The plants grow in low-lying rain forests on moist soil.
System
In the genus only three types are distinguished:
- Cannonball tree ( Couroupita guianensis Aubl. )
- Couroupita nicaraguarensis DC.
- Couroupita subsessilis Pilg.
The type species is Couroupita guianensis.
Swell
- L. I. Nevling: Flora of Panama ( Lecythidaceae ). In: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Volume 45, Number 2 May 1958.
- Couroupita at the Lecythidaceae Pages of the New York Botanical Garden, accessed on 28 April 2007.