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CannonBall
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| Photo Information |
Copyright: Kedar Kulkarni (kedarkulkarni)
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 144 W: 0 N: 182]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-n-g.gif) (785) |
| Genre: Plants |
| Medium: Color |
| Date Taken: 2009-07-06 |
| Categories: Flowers |
| Photo Version: Original Version |
| Date Submitted: 2009-07-07 22:46 |
| Viewed: 332 |
| Points: 20 |
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
This is a big tree next to my house and I always wonder and see the falling flowers and big fruits of this tree. I always amazed to see this tree with a such wonderful flower. Last Sunday I just decided to take a snap of this flower. This flower is bright orange in colour with a central hood like structure.
The flower is very delicate and it blossoms at about 10 to 20 ft height, whereas the tree is much more taller about 100 ft. The buds are like the green balls and the fruits are brown in colour and they grow as big as coconuts.
From Wikipedia
Couroupita guianensis, whose common name is 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. It part of the family Lecythiaceae. The Cannonball Tree is so-called because of its brown cannon ball-like fruits. The majority of these trees outside of 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 in large bunches measuring up to 3 m in length. They produce large spherical and woody fruits ranging from 15 to 24 cm in diameter, containing up to 200 or 300 seeds apiece.
Discovery
The Cannonball Tree was given its species name Coroupita Guianensis by the French Botanist J.F. Aublet in 1755.
Locations
The Cannonball tree is the most common in neotropical forests, especially in the Amazon Basin. It is native to Guiana in South America.
Flowers and pollination
The 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. The 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 are six petals, which are large orange-red in color and are strongly perfumed. In pollination fertile stamens can be found in a ring around reduced style and stamens. The sterile pollen are locate in the anthers. As a bee enters to pollinate the flower its back is against the ring with fertile pollen, this allows the bee to carry the fertile pollen to another flower. The differences in the pollen was noticed by a French Botanist in 1825. This discovery was made by Antoine Porteau. The differences in the pollen are as follows: The pollen of the ring stamens in fertile while the hood pollen is sterile.
Fruits and dispersal
The tree gets its common name from the large, spherical fruits it produces. The fruit falls from the tree and cracks open when it hits the ground when maturity. The fruit emits an unpleasant aroma when exposed to the air. Individual seeds within the "ball" are coated with hair, which is thought to protect for the seed when it is ingested and may also help in the passage of the seed through the intestines. Like coconut palms, the trees should not be planted near paths or near traffic-filled areas, as the heavy nut is known to fall without notice.
Trivia
The trees are grown extensively in Shiva temples in India. It is called the 'Nagalingam' tree in Tamil. The flowers are called 'Shivalinga flowers', 'Nagalinga Pushpa' in Kannada, 'Nagamalli flowers' or 'Mallikarjuna flowers' in Telugu. It is considered a sacred tree among Hindus because the flower resembles a nagam or a sacred snake on the central large shiva lingam and numerous shivalingams around.
It looks like the hood of “Naga” the snake, and the inner part of it contains the lone female part, stigma, sitting inside, as if protected by this hood of Naga.
The Stigma is small in size and it looks similar to a Shiva Linga, with a small pedestal (Ovary of Stigma) and a small linga (Stylum+Stigma combined).
Medicinal Uses
The Cannon ball tree possesses antibiotic, antifungal, antiseptic and analgesic qualities. The trees are used to cure colds and stomach aches. The juice made from the leaves is used to cure skin diseases, and the Shamans of South America have even used tree parts for treating malaria. The inside of the fruit can disinfect wounds and young leaves ease toothache. |
briGG, nasokoun, haraprasan, bahadir, boreocypriensis, Noisette, uleko, Pitoncle has marked this note useful
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- briGG
(1383)
- [2009-07-07 23:16]
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Hello Kedar,
Beautiful shot of this nice flower! Very special species!
Your note is very interesting!
TFS
brigitte
hello Kedar
through a very good glance, a simple and very beautiful scene,very fine capture
TFS thanks for sharing
Nasos
hello Kedar
wauwh this is beautiful
so sharpness and great colours
a beauty!!
greeting lou
Hi Kedar,
A nice capture of this beautiful Nagchampa flower. Very good composition and sharp details. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Hello Kedar, wonderful close-up shot of this interesting flower with beautiful colours and details.
Bahadır
Namaste Kedar, what a lovely capture of this up-dwon headed flower from great POV with excellent lighting, details and fine composition.
TFS and cheers,
Bayram
Hello Kedar
superb shot of this beautiful flower, great sharp details and wonderful colors
I like the POV, DOF and composition very much
Thanks for sharing and have a good night
Jacqueline
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- uleko
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2989 W: 162 N: 941]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(2769) - [2009-07-09 4:16]
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Hello Kedar,
I remember how amazed I was the first time I saw these trees with their enormous flowers and fruits. This is a beautiful close-up of the flower, very sharp and in natural colours.
The little Hoverfly adds charm too and I like your composition with the buds beyond.
TFS and regards, Ulla
Bonjour Kedar,
Très belle macro finement détaillée et délicatement colorée.
A bientôt sur TN pour de nouvelles aventures.
Gérard
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- foozi
(9065)
- [2009-07-11 4:58]
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Hi Kedar,
a very amazing flower with beautiful colours and symmetrrical pattern. you have shown int nicely with bees in it.
nice presentation and this flower is very new to me.
thanks for sharing.
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 899 W: 35 N: 1245]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-s-g.gif)
(10017)