A blooming red, purple and yellow flower of a Cannonball tree. The Cannonball Tree is native to the tropical forests of northeastern South America, especially the Amazon Basin and in the tropics such as in India and Thailand. Both the fruit and the flower grow from stalks which sprout from the trunk of the tree. Cannonball Tree flowers are found on thick tangled extrusions that grow on the trunk of the tree; these are found just below the foliage branches. The extrusions however, can range from two to six feet in length. The flowers are attached to an upwardly bent, white fleshy disk. The flowers have six petals, which are large, orange-red, and strongly perfumed. The tree gets its common name from the large, spherical fruits it produces.
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