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Botany and flowers

The flowers of the cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis) are borne in racemes produced directly on the tree's trunk. The tree is a deciduous member of the family Lecythidaceae. It is native to lowland tropical rainforests of Central and South America, from Costa Rica south to Brazil and northern Bolivia. It is cultivated in many other tropical areas because of its fragrant flowers and large fruit.

The flowers are strongly scented and are especially fragrant at night and in the early morning. They are up to 6 cm in diameter and have six petals. The petals range from shades of pink and red near the bases to yellowish toward the tips. One tree can hold as many as 1000 flowers per day. The fruit can have an unpleasant smell, in contrast to the intensely fragrant flowers.

Sacred use

In India and Sri Lanka, Hindus venerate the tree. They believe its hooded flowers look like the nāga under which the white stigma looks like a Lingam, and so the tree is grown at Shiva temples. The flower is offered to Lord Shiva. Its Tamil name is Nagalingam and its Sanskrit name is Naga pushpam. In Sri Lanka, Thailand and other Theravada Buddhist countries it has been planted at Buddhist monasteries and other religious sites.

Chemistry

Headspace analysis of the flowers identified 75 compounds, which account for 96.32% of the total volatiles. The most abundant constituent was eugenol (18.95%), followed by nerol (13.49%) and (E,E)-farnesol (12.88%). Oxygenated terpenoids make up 35.66% of the volatiles and alcohols 26.92%.

Linalool was the major chemical in the solvent extract (21.5%) and in the micro-simultaneous extract (14.9%), but negligible (0.16%) in the headspace analysis. The fruit and flowers are known to contain indigotin and indirubin.

Uses

The tree is planted as an ornamental for its showy, scented flowers. Incense is made from the wood.

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