Couroupita guianensis
species of flowering plant in the Brazil nut family Lecythidaceae
Couroupita guianensis, known by a variety of common names including Salakalyana and cannonball tree, is a deciduous tree in the flowering plant family Lecythidaceae. It is native to lowland tropical rainforests of Central and South America, from Costa Rica, south to Brazil and northern Bolivia and it is cultivated in many other tropical areas throughout the world because of its fragrant flowers and large fruit, which are brownish grey. There are potential medicinal uses for many parts of Couroupita guianensis, and the tree has cultural and religious significance in South and Southeast Asia. In Sri Lanka and India, the cannonball tree has been widely misidentified as the Sal tree (Shorea robusta), after its introduction to the island by the British in 1881, and has been included as a common item in Buddhist temples as a result.
Description
Couroupita guianensis is a tree that reaches heights of up to 35 metres (110 ft). The leaves, which occur in clusters at the ends of branches, are usually 8 to 31 cm (3.1 to 12.2 in) long, but can reach lengths of up to 57 cm (22 in).
Flowers
The flowers are borne in racemes up to 80 cm (31 in) long produced directly on the tree's trunk. They are considered an extreme example of cauliflory named flagelliflory. Some trees flower profusely until the entire trunk is covered with racemes. One tree can hold as many as 1000 flowers per day.
“Couroupita guianensis” enters the record as species of flowering plant in the Brazil nut family Lecythidaceae. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Couroupita, guianensis and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Couroupita guianensis” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Couroupita, guianensis and species provides the most credible route into that argument.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q161823. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1881 and 1000.
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This entry incorporates text from “Couroupita guianensis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.