The cannonball tree, named after its characteristic fruit, produces spectacular fragrant flowers that attract many insects, like the lesser banded hornet here, which feed on its pollen.
The cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis, Tamil - Nagalingam, Hindi - Nagalinga/Tope gola) is native to South and Central America and belongs to the family Lecythidaceae, which consists of species commonly found in the Amazonian forests. It has many striking flowers on long stalks emerging directly from the tree trunk, a feature known as cauliflory. The strong fragrance of these flowers attracts insect parties that come for a feast of pollen. The tree shows a unique adaptation where the stigma sits at the center of the flower inside a huddle of fertile stamens carrying viable pollen. This arena is hooded by drooping rows of sterile stamens with pollen that do not germinate, which attract pollinators like the carpenter bee. While collecting this pollen to feed larvae, the head and back of the bee gets accidently dusted with viable pollen. These pollen are transferred to other flowers on the bee's foraging route, thus fertilizing them. Fertilized flowers produce large woody fruit resembling cannon balls, whose foul-smelling pulp is eaten by mammals in the tree’s native range, who disperse its seeds over long distances.
