15 



long and a single flower may contain more than five luincjrcd 

 of them. 



One of the most curious trees in the Botanical Garden is the 

 cannon-ball tree, Couroupita guianensis. The trunk of large 

 specimens is almost hidden by a tangle of crooked irregular 

 branches about three feet long, on which the flowers are produced 

 in huge racemes. One cannot say that these flowers are pro- 

 duced along the main trunk, but the flower-bearing branches 



5» ■• 



- ^^^^KHk 



6 





fm^ M 



m 





Mm^A 





1 



■.1 ,;; 



v??fe*' 





■'■■ •'■'•.. 



^^ 



Pi 



m^^L^. 



Fig. 32. Talipot palm in bloom. Ceylon. 



appear there only, so that after all it seems to represent one form 

 of caulifiory. The floAvers themselves are interesting in their 

 structure but the tree is especially conspicuous because of its 

 huge spherical fruits up to a foot in diameter and greatly re- 

 sembling the object for which the tree is named. 



