Cannonball Tree Flower
by Venetia Featherstone-Witty
Title
Cannonball Tree Flower
Artist
Venetia Featherstone-Witty
Medium
Photograph - Photographs
Description
Couroupita guianensis grows up to 35 m (meters) in height. The clustered leaves vary in length, generally from 8 to 31 centimeters, but reaching up to 57.The flowers are born in large bunches up to 80 m(meters) long. Some trees flower profusely, until the entire trunk is buried in flowers. One tree can bear 1000 flowers per day. They are strongly scented, especially at night, and in the early morning. They are large, up to 6 centimeters wide, and often brightly colored, the six petals in shades of pink and red near the bases and yellowish toward the tips. There is a ring of stamens at the center, and an arrangement to stamens that have been modified into a hood. The large fruit, which is woody and very spherical, measuring up to 25 centimeters wide, gives the species the common name "cannonball tree".The flowers lack nectar, but are very attractive to bees coming for 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 visit the flowers. The flowers produce two types of pollen, fertile pollen from the ring stamens and sterile pollen from the hood structure.This tree is planted as an ornamental for its showy, scented flowers, and as a botanical specimen for its interesting fruit.
FEATURED 10/18/16 in "The Most Beautiful Flowers"
FEATURED 2/17/21 in "Global Flowers"
FEATURED 2/22/21 in "Floral Photography"
FEATURED 2/24/21 in "Macro Marvels"
FEATURED 2/25/21 in "Lady Photographers"
Uploaded
December 27th, 2015
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Viewed 458 Times - Last Visitor from Syosset, NY on 04/24/2024 at 5:08 PM
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