Couroupita guianensis, known by a variety of common names including Salakalyana and cannonball tree, is a deciduous tree in the flowering plant family Lecythidaceae. It is native to lowland tropical rainforests of Central and South America, from Costa Rica, south to Brazil and northern Bolivia There are potential medicinal uses for many parts of Couroupita guianensis, and the tree has cultural and religious significance in South and Southeast Asia. In Sri Lanka and India, the cannonball tree has been widely misidentified as the Sal tree (Shorea robusta), after its introduction to the island by the British in 1881, and has been included as a common item in Buddhist temples as a result.
Description
Couroupita guianensis is a tree that reaches heights of up to . The leaves, which occur in clusters at the ends of branches, are usually long, but can reach lengths of up to .
Flowers
The flowers are borne in racemes up to 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. The fruit flesh is white and turns blue upon oxidation, a reaction with air. Tropical nature photographer Kjell Sandved was nearly hit by a falling cannonball fruit, which weighed , probably an average weight.
Scientific name
The tree was named Couroupita guianensis by the French botanist Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet in 1775.
The Latin specific epithet guianensis means "of the Guianas", an area of northeastern South America.
Pollination
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.
Cultural significance
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.
Gallery
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Image:Flower of couroupita guianensis.jpg|A flower (Singapore Botanic Gardens)
Image:Naglingam (Couroupita guianensis) young leaves in Hyderabad, AP W IMG 6606.jpg|Leaves (Hyderabad, India)
Image:নাগলিঙ্গম ফুলের কলি.jpg|Inflorescences with flowers in bud (Dhaka, Bangladesh)
Image:Cannonball tree flower buds.JPG|Flower buds close up (Maharashtra, India)
Image:Canonball Flower P1030858.JPG|Flowers
Image:Couroupita guianensis fleur en coupe.jpg|Flower in longitudinal section showing ovary (Jardín Botánico de Cienfuegos, Cuba)
Image:Couroupita_guianensis_fruits.JPG|Fruit (Tamil Nadu, India)
Image:Cannonball tree fruit, Waimea Botanical Garden (2024)-104A4065.jpg|Fruit at Waimea Botanical Garden on the island of O'ahu, Hawaiʻi
Image:Cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis) trunk.jpg|Tree trunk (Kolkata, India)
</gallery>