Cannonball tree, Nagalingam in India

Description:

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. The flower has the shape of a snake over a Shiva Lingam, hence it's name in India - Nagalingam tree. The branches with the flower clusters grow directly out of the trunk. The amazing thing is that they grow successively lower each year, so that they cover more and more of the trunk till they reach ground level when the tree is old.

Habitat:

growing in my garden in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India