Rarely does a tree flower as profusely as this one, where the dense racemes come down to cover its very trunk. A mature tree can produce up to one thousand flowers a day! Bright red or pink, these flowers, though lacking in nectar are rich in pollen and are sweetly scented, too. However, it is the large, round, thick-shelled fruit of this tree that furnishes the common name for it – cannonball is exactly what it looks like. And when it falls down after ripening, it bursts open like the cannonball, too. The fruit takes as long as 18 months to mature. The fruit flesh is white and turns blue upon oxidation, after a reaction with the air. While the flowers smell sweet, the fruits do not, thereby reducing their edibility.
The tree has been ushered to foreign shores given its high worth as an ornamental flowerer and its interesting fruit.
Remarkably, despite being a native to Central and South America, this tree has been accepted in Hindu temples because of the interesting shape of the flowers that suggests a hooded cobra and a Shivalinga to the devotees.
The tree has several medicinal uses in its native range and research on its fruit extract has shown it to possess antibacterial activity.