Couroupita Guianensis aka Cannon Ball Trees

It is easy to see why the Couroupita guianensis is also known as the cannon ball tree. Look at the fruits. Don’t they look like cannon balls?

Couroupita guianensis is cultivated in many tropical areas throughout the world as an ornamental plant for its beautiful, scented flowers, and as a botanical specimen for its interesting fruit.

Sometimes flowers cover the whole tree trunk when they bloom. The flowers are strongly scented, and the fragrance is especially strong at night and in the early morning. They are typically brightly colored, with the petals ranging from shades of pink and red near the bases to yellowish toward the tips.

Fruits in the shape of cannon balls are brownish in colour. They take up to a year to mature, sometimes as long as eighteen months. They will drop to the ground when they are ripe. Hence, one should not loiter under the tree, because such a fruit dropping on one’s head could cause a lot of damage.

The flesh of the fruit are edible, but are not usually eaten by people because, in contrast to its intensely fragrant flowers, it can have an unpleasant smell. It is fed to livestock such as pigs and domestic fowl.

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