Canonball tree-한강의 꽃

Cannonball tree(Couroupita guianensis)-오예과(Lecythidaceae)

 

스리랑카 여행중 Royal Botanical Garden에서 본 꽃인데 처음엔 Jackfruit 인줄 알고 찰영을 했으나 검색을 통해 확인을 아직 못했다.

열매에 비해 꽃이 아름다웠는데 높이 있어 근접찰영을 할 수 가 없었다.

 

여행정리를 하는 중 우연히 식물정보를 보게되어 꽃이름을 확인하여 바로 잡습니다. 

                                                열매가 녹쓴 대포알 같다하여 Cannonball tree라 부른다.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                             꽃접사가 잘된 사진이 있어 Wikimedia에서 퍼온사진 ↓

Couroupita guianensis, whose common names include Ayahuma and the Cannonball Tree, is an evergreen tree allied to the Brazil Nut (Bertholletia excelsa), and is native to tropical northern South America and to the southern Caribbean.   In India it has been growing for the past two or three thousand years at least, as attested by textual records ; hence it is possible that it is native to India also. It's part of  the family Lecythidaceae and grows up to 25m in height. The "Cannonball Tree" is so called because of its brown cannon-ball-like fruits.

The majority of these trees outside their natural environment have been planted as a botanical curiosity, as they grow very large, distinc-tive flowers. Its flowers are orange, scarlet and pink in color, and form large bunches measuring up to 3m in length. They produce large spherical and woody fruits ranging from 15 to 24cm in diameter, containing up to 200 or 300 seeds apiece.

 

Religious Significance in Asia

 

The trees are grown extensively in Shiba temples in India. In Hindi it is called Shiv Kamal. It is called the Nagalingam tree in Tamil.

In Bengali, it is called Nagkeshar. The flowers are called Shivalinga flowers in Hindi; Nagalinga Pushpa in Kannada; Nagamalli flowers

or Mallikarjuna flowers in Telugu. Hindus revere it as a sacred tree because the petals of the flower resemble the hood of the Naga, a sacred snake, protec-ting a Shiva Lingam, the stigma.

In Sri Lanka, Thailand and other Buddhist countries the tree is often planted at Buddhist temples. It is here mistaken as the Sala tree, Shorea robusta , the tree under which the Buddha passed away and under which the previous Buddha Vessabhu attained enlighten.

 

스리랑카 Royal Botanical Garden (2011.2.8  흐림, 비)