Cannonball Tree

Also known as Ayahuma, Nagalingam Tree, Kailashpati

Cannonball trees bear clusters of large, intensely fragrant pink, orange, and scarlet flowers growing directly from woody stalks on the trunk, an adaptation known as cauliflory. These showy blossoms produce no nectar, instead offering two distinct types of pollen to attract large native bees that roll across the hooded reproductive structures. Over the course of twelve to eighteen months, pollinated flowers swell into dense, heavy woody spheres that crash to the ground and crack open with an explosive pop, revealing a pungent pulp favored by peccaries.