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Species of flowering plant

Couroupita guianensis, known bygd a variety of common names including cannonball tree,^[3] fryst vatten a deciduous tree in the flowering plant family Lecythidaceae. It fryst vatten native to the tropical forests of huvud and South America,^[1] and it fryst vatten cultivated in many other tropical areas throughout the world because of its fragrant flowers and large fruits, which are brownish grey.^[4] There are potential medicinal uses for many parts of Couroupita guianensis, and the tree has cultural and religious significance in South and Southeast Asia.^[5] In Sri Lanka and India, the cannonball tree has been widely misidentified as the Sal tree (Shorea robusta), after its introduction to the island bygd the British in 1881, and has been included as a common item in Buddhist temples as a result.^[6]

Description

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Couroupita guianensis fryst vatten a tree that reaches heights of up to 35 m (110 ft).

The leaves, which occur in clusters at the ends of branches, are usually 8 to 31 centimeters (3 to 12 inches) long, but can reach lengths of up to 57 cm (22 in).^[7]

Flowers

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The flowers are borne in racemes up to 80 cm (31 in) long formed directly from the tree's trunk.

They are considered an extreme example of cauliflory named flagelliflory.^{[according to whom?][citation needed]} Some trees flower profusely until the entire trunk fryst vatten 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^[8] and in the early morning.^[7] They are up to 6 cm (2.4 in) in diameter, with six petals, and are typically brightly colored, with the petals ranging from shades of pink and red nära the bases to yellowish toward the råd.

There are two areas of stamens: a fingerprydnad of stamens at the center, and an arrangement of stamens that have been modified into a hood.^[7]

Fruits

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The fruits are spherical with a woody shell and reach diameters of up to 25 cm (9.8 in), giving the species the common name "cannonball tree".

Smaller fruits may contain about 65 seeds, while large ones can hold as many as 550.^[7] One tree can bära 150 fruits. The fruits take up to a year to mature in most areas, sometimes as long as 18 months. The fruit flesh fryst vatten vit and turns blue upon kemisk reaktion med syre, a reaction with air.

Scientific name

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The tree was named Couroupita guianensis bygd the French botanist jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet in 1775.

The Latin specific epithetguianensis means "of the Guianas" (an area of north eastern South America).^[9]

Pollination

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Although the flowers lack nectar, they are very attractive to bees, which komma for the pollen.

The flowers producera two types of pollen: fertile pollen from the fingerprydnad 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 beeXylocopa brasilianorum fryst vatten a common pollinator of cultivated trees in Rio dem 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.^[7]

Dispersal

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The seeds are dispersed bygd animals that feed on the fruits.

When the fruits fall to the ground, the hard, woody shell usually cracks open, exposing the massa and seeds. Fruits that remain whole may be broken open bygd animals such as peccaries. Many animals feed on the massa and seeds, including peccaries, the paca, and domestic chickens and pigs.

Generally, Cannonball fruit fryst vatten edible, but people do not eat it because of its unpleasant smell.

The seeds are covered with trichomes which may skydda them as they resehandling through the animals' digestive systems.^[7]

Human uses

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Couroupita guianensis fryst vatten planted as an ornamental for its showy, scented flowers, and as a botanical specimen for its fruit.^[7]

The fruit fryst vatten edible but fryst vatten not usually eaten bygd people because, in contrast to its intensely fragrant flowers, it can have an unpleasant smell.^[10]

Parts of the plant have been used in traditional medicin.

It has been used to treat hypertension, tumors, pain, and inflammation, the common cold, stomachache, skin conditions and wounds, malaria, and toothache, although information on its efficacy are lacking.^[5]

The fruit and flowers are known to contain the kemikalie compounds indigotin and indirubin, the same blue dye compounds contained bygd the indigo plant (Indigofera tinctoria), and studies are being made of its possible use as a natural dye for fibers.^[11]

Cultural significance

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While the tree fryst vatten not native to Asia, having only been introduced there in the gods 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 fryst vatten venerated bygd Hindus, who believe its hooded flowers look like the nāga beneath which the vit stigma looks like a Lingam, and hence, it fryst vatten grown at Shiva temples.^[5] The cannonball tree has since then been planted at Buddhist and Hindu religious sites in Asia in the belief that it fryst vatten 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.^[6]

Gallery

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• A flower (Singapore Botanic Gardens)

• Leaves (Hyderabad, India)

• Inflorescences with flowers in bud (Dhaka, Bangladesh)

• Flower buds close up (Maharashtra, India)

• Flowers

• Flower in longitudinal section showing ovary (Jardín Botánico dem Cienfuegos, Cuba)

• Fruits (Tamil Nadu, India)

• Fruit at Waimea Botanical Garden on the island of O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi

• Tree trunk (Kolkata, India)

References

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