Careya Arborea Roxb

Careya Arborea Roxb

Family: Lecythidaceae

Characteristic features :

Habit : Deciduous trees up to 10 m tall.

Leaves : alternate, crowded at the ends of branches, obovate, up to 22 x 15 cm, cuneate at base, rounded or shortly acuminate at apex, margins crenate.

Flowers : spikes, sessile, large, showy, ca 5 cm across, yellowish white. Calyx 4-lobed, lobes ovate. Petals 4, elliptic-oblong, up to 5 cm long. Stamens very numerous in several rows, slightly connate at base; filaments very long, innermost and outermost often without anthers. Ovary inferior, crowned by an annular disc.

Fruit : Berries large, globose, up to 6.5 cm across, green, crowned by the persistent calyx lobes.

Seeds : numerous in fleshy pulp.

Flowering & Fruiting: March – July.