The Canonball Tree Flower The tree was named Couroupita guianensis by the French botanist Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusee Aublet in 1755. The Couroupita guianensis known by several common names, including cannonball tree, is a deciduous tree in the family Lecythidaceae, which also contains the Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa). The flowers are born in large bunches up to 80 m(meters) long. Some trees flower profusely, until the entire trunk is buried in flowers. One tree can bear 1000 flowers per day. They are strongly scented, especially at night, and in the early morning. They are large, up to 6 centimeters wide, and often brightly colored, the six petals in shades of pink and red near the bases and yellowish toward the tips. There is a ring of stamens at the center, and an arrangement to stamens that have been modified into a hood. The flowers lack nectar, but are very attractive to bees coming for the pollen. The carpenter bees such as Xylocopa frontalis, as well as wasps, flower flies, and bumblebees visit the flowers. The flowers produce two types of pollen, fertile pollen from the ring stamens and sterile pollen from the hood structure. This tree is planted as ornamental for its showy, scented flowers, and as a botanical specimen for its interesting fruit. The fruit is fed to livestock such as pigs and domestic fowl. The fruit is edible, but not usually eaten by people because it can have an unpleasant smell. In India the tree is sacred to Hindus, who believe its hooded flowers look like the nāga, and it is grown at Shiva temples. There are many medicinal uses for the plant. Native Amazonians use extracts of several parts of the tree to treat hypertension, tumors, pain, and inflammation. It has been used to treat the common cold, stomachache, skin conditions and wounds, malaria, and toothache. Laboratory tests show that extracts of the plant have some antimicrobial activity and inhibit the formation of biofilms. The fruit pulp is rubbed on sick dogs to cure them of mange. Picture shot at Mysore on April 2013. Device – Canon 1Ds Mark III Focal Length – 300mm Aperture – F/10 Shutter Speed – 1/800s Exposure mode – Manual Metering – Matrix
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 04:56:33 +0000
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