436
Couroupita
guianensis
Synonym
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Couroupita guianensis var. surinamensis
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Family
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Lecythidaceae
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Local name
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English- Cannon ball tree
Malayalam- Nagalingamaram
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Flowering and fruiting period
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January-October
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Distribution
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Native
of South America
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Distribution in Kerala
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All
Districts
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Habitat
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Grown
in garden and temple premises
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Endemic/Exotic
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Exotic
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Uses
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Leaves,
flowers and barks are used to
treat hypertension, tumours, pain,
and inflammatory reactions. Leaves are used to make juice which is used to
treat skin diseases and South Americans use each part of the C. guianensis tree to treat malaria.
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Key botanical characters:
Trees,
bark smooth. Leaves simple, alternate, spiral, crowed at the apices of
branchlets estipulate; petiole 20-40 mm long, stout, swollen at the tip and
base, glabrous; lamina 10-21 x 4.5-10 cm, obovate or oblong-ovate, base
obtuse, apex acute, obtuse or emarginate, margin entire, crenate or serrate,
glabrous, coriaceous; lateral nerves 10-11 pairs, pinnate, prominent,
intercostae reticulate. Flowers bisexual, pink, in racemes on trunk on lower
branches; sepals short; petals 5 x 2.5 cm; stamens many, fused into a curved
spathulate androphore; ovary half inferior. Fruit globose, berry, surface
scurfy, to 10-12 cm across.
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