Description: Is a tropical evergreen tree with a short trunk and spreading branches. The leaves are simple, glossy, dark green, and oval-shaped, often growing in clusters along the branches. The flowers are small, bell-shaped, and greenish-yellow to purple in color, and they grow directly on the trunk and branches. The fruit is large, round to oval, with a hard woody shell that turns brown when mature, containing soft pulp and many seeds inside.
Substitutes – Crescentia alata – Known as the Mexican calabash tree, very similar with hard-shelled fruits used for containers and crafts. – Lagenaria siceraria – Bottle gourd vine, produces hard-shelled gourds widely used as utensils and containers.
Ecology: It grows best in tropical climates, in well-drained sandy or loamy soils. It prefers warm temperatures (20°C–35°C) and full sunlight. The plant requires moderate moisture but is fairly drought-tolerant once established. It does not tolerate waterlogged conditions.
Distribution: Native to Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America, it is now widely distributed in India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, Africa, and tropical regions worldwide as an ornamental and useful tree.
Use: The plant is mainly grown as an ornamental tree, and its hard fruit shell is widely used to make bowls, containers, utensils, musical instruments, and handicrafts, while it is also used in traditional medicine in some cultures.Also roasted seeds use as a coffee substitute.
Author of text and photos: Chanduni Bootawatta.
Photographed in Peradeniya Botanical Garden, Sri Lanka on 16 March 2026.
Poslat emailem
