Two orange-red Couroupita guianensis flowers with cream-colored hoods and yellow anthers

Couroupita guianensis (Cannonball Tree)

Native from Panama into tropical South America, this plant is a large rainforest tree reaching about one hundred feet tall. Its undivided leaves cluster at the ends of branches. Long, woody flowering stalks arise from the trunk and bear fragrant flowers with six fleshy petals in shades of pink, red and orange. Each flower has a ring of fertile stamens and a hood bearing non-germinating pollen, collected as food by visiting bees. The rounded, woody fruits grow to about ten inches across and may crack open when they fall. Their pulp turns bluish-green on exposure to air and develops an unpleasant smell, enclosing numerous hairy seeds. The tree is widely cultivated as an ornamental in tropical gardens. Photographed in the eastern Andes mountain range of Colombia.

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A red Cannonball Tree flower in bloom with curled petals and a pronounced white and pink floral hood, set against a green leafy background

A rust orange Couroupita guianensis flower with a cream-colored androphore and purple filaments and yellow anthers

Magenta Couroupita guianensis flower with a cream-colored hood and purple filaments tipped with yellow anthers

A bright orange Cannonball Tree flower with thick curved petals and a central white and yellow hooded stamen structure emerging from the tree trunk

Red Couroupita guianensis flower with a cream-colored hood and pink filaments tipped with yellow anthers

A Cannonball Tree flower with pale pink outer petals and vibrant purple and yellow reproductive structures, surrounded by unopened buds on a thick stem

A Couroupita guianensis tree trunk with racemes of orange flowers and buds

Couroupita guianensis trunk covered with woody flowering stalks bearing reddish-pink flowers

Brown spherical Couroupita guianensis fruits hanging from woody stalks beside the trunk