CANNON–BALL TREE
Family
– Myrtaceae
Scientific
name – Couroupita guianensis
Common
names –
1) Monkey pots in
English
2) Nagalingam in
Bengali and Tamil.
3) Shivlingam in
Hindi.
4) Kailashpati in
Marathi.
Growing
areas –
1) Originated in South
America.
2) It can live in
all tropical regions, preferring moist and low-lying areas.
General information
–
1) This tree often
looks untidy due to it’s branches which grows in uneven manner.
2) The branches
start growing in high up the trunk.
3) This tree is large
and fast growing evergreen tree.
4) This tree has the
thick straight trunk and rough grey brown bark.
Leaves,
flowers and fruit of the Cannon-Ball tree.
Leaves of
the Cannon-Ball Tree –
1) This tree sheds
it’s leaves in several times in the year for the short time.
2) It only takes
few days to grow new leaves on the blank places of old leaves.
3) The leaves are
long and narrow.
4) They are rich
green colour when new, darken within a few days.
Flowers of
the Cannon-Ball Tree –
1) The flowers are
six petalled fleshy flowers appear all the year round.
2) The flowers are
pink and maroon or can be many coloured with the yellow or white on them.
3) The flowers hang
to the long wood like stalks which grow out from the trunk.
4) They have the
strange sweet perfume.
5) If the petals
are crushed they immediately turns blue as the air reaches the crushed parts.
Fruit of
the Cannon-Ball Tree –
1) The fruits take 8
to 9 months to develop.
2) The shape of the
fruit is round and changes to cannon ball shape when ripe.
3) Fruits are hard
and brown outside and they contain sour smelling soft flesh and many seeds.
Uses of the
Cannon-Ball Tree –
1) In India the
flowers of the tree are used by Shiva worshippers for their pujas, as the shape
of the flower has a religious significance.
2) The tree often
planted in tropical countries for it’s beautiful flowers and because of it’s
odd appearance.
3) The wood of the
tree is of value.
4) The pulp of the
fruit is made into drinks.
