Cannon Ball Tree

Cannon Ball Tree
Couroupita guianensis
(koo-roo-PEE-ta) (gee-uh-NEN-sis)
Synonyms: Castanha-de-Macaco, Couratari pedicellaris

This tree was blooming at the Foster’s Botanical Garden in Honolulu. It is an amazing garden partly because of the collection of trees and flowers and partly since it is right downtown. As you are viewing the various tropical plants they are completely ringed by high rise buildings. It is easy to blot out the cityscape and focus on the plants.

This is a tree I had never seen before and it had the appearance that its flowers and cannonballs were growing on a vine that was climbing up the trunk but closer examination showed the vine looking parts were actually short branches coming from the trunk. The blooms were fragrant and highly detailed. The “watch out for falling cannonballs” sign was funny. It was nice that the flowers were almost right to the ground because there were several trees that were blooming that you couldn’t really see, as they were very tall and the branches started 20 or 30 feet from the ground. You could only see spent flowers around the base.
Click Here for a Larger Version of the Cannon Ball Tree

We are holed up on the quiet end of Waikiki Beach very near Diamond Head. I read that Diamond Head is one of the most recognizable geographical features in the world. Not sure about that but it certainly is one of the most recognizable craters. Since the sky was a little hard to shoot yesterday I took this in black and white and it is the view off our balcony.

Click Here for a Larger Version

Today the hunt for more flowers and rare tropicals continues on Oahu’s fabled North Shore.