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Explore Jul 30, 2011 #54
Click image to see this one on black!

This is a strange one! The tree is very large and tall but the flowers all hang from stems 10 feet or so from the ground so it feels like they are growing on a vine attached to the tree rather than the tree itself! These are called cauliflorous... flowers that grow from the trunk.

"In the rainforests of South American, fruits of the Cannonball tree sway and clash in the wind, creating loud noises like artillery fire! These fruits really do resemble big, rusty cannonballs as they hang in clusters on the side of the tree attached to rope like tangles that emerge directly from the trunk.

The Cannonball tree’s beautifully complex and fragrant flowers resemble huge orchids. At night the flowers become particularly pungent in order to attract swift-flying pollinators. This particular Cannonball tree was collected in 1913 at Jamaica’s Hope Gardens and has flourished at Fairchild since it was planted here in 1938."

Couroupita guianensis, whose common names include Ayahuma and the Cannonball Tree, is an evergreen tree allied to the Brazil Nut (Bertholletia excelsa), and is native to tropical northern South America and to the southern Caribbean. In India it has been growing for the past two or three thousand years at least, as attested by textual records; hence it is possible that it is native to India also. It's part of the family Lecythidaceae and grows up to 25m (82ft) in height. The "Cannonball Tree" is so called because of its brown cannon-ball-like fruits. The majority of these trees outside their natural environment have been planted as a botanical curiosity, as they grow very large, distinctive flowers. Its flowers are orange, scarlet and pink in color, and form large bunches measuring up to 3m in length. They produce large spherical and woody fruits ranging from 15 to 24cm in diameter, containing up to 200 or 300 seeds apiece.

Cannonball Tree flowers do not have nectar, so these flowers are mainly visited by bees in search of pollen. Outside the native range of habitat, carpenter bees are considered to be the principal pollinators. Both the fruit and the flower grow from stalks which sprout from the trunk of the tree. Cannonball Tree flowers are found on thick tangled extrusions that grow on the trunk of the tree; these are found just below the foliage branches. The extrusions however, can range from two to six feet in length. The flowers are attached to an upwardly bent, white fleshy disk. The flowers have six petals, which are large, orange-red, and strongly perfumed. In pollination, fertile stamens can be found in a ring around reduced style and stamens. The sterile pollen is located in the anthers. As a bee enters to pollinate the flower, its back rubs against the ring with fertile pollen; this allows the bee to carry the fertile pollen to another flower. the hood pollen is sterile. The differences in pollen was noticed by French botanist Antoine Porteau in 1825.

Cannonball Tree, Couroupita guianensis
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami, FL

Finally the weather is warming and our tropical trees are responding! Up North, it was crocuses, Tulips and Daffodils that signaled Spring for me. But here in tropical South Florida, it's Mangoes in bloom, setting up the delicious expectation of lots of peachy, golden, juicy fruit on its way!

Mangoes have been cultivated in the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years and reached East Asia between the 5th-4th century BC. By the 10th century AD, cultivation had begun in East Africa, coming later to Brazil, West Indies and Mexico. Mango is now cultivated in most frost-free tropical and warmer subtropical climates; nearly half of the world's mangoes are cultivated in India alone.

The flowers are produced in terminal panicles 10–40 cm (3.9–16 in) long; each flower is small and white with five petals and has a mild sweet odor like lily of the valley. The fruit takes three to six months to ripen.

Mango is generally sweet, although its taste and texture varies. Some have a soft, pulpy texture like an over-ripe plum. Others are firm like cantaloupe or avocado. Some are smooth. Others are fibrous. Mango is eaten ripe and raw.

Mango peel contains Urushiol, the chemical in poison ivy and poison sumac which can cause contact dermatitis in susceptible people.

Mango, Mangifera indica