Monkey Pot, Sapucaia

Very beautiful tropical tree from the Brazilian rainforests. It can grow tall, between 15-25m tall, but will start blooming when it´s on...Read Morely around 5m tall.

The bloom is impressing. Firstly, the tree loses most of the leaves in winter, and after a few days it start new shoots. These new leaves are pink. The whole tree becomes pink. Immediately after these new shoots are established, the flowers begin. They are purple, and resemble those of Cannon Ball Tree, but these are entirely purple and significantly smaller; they also have a strong smell, like roses.

The tree is pink spotted with small purple flowers. When the flowers become old (I don´t know how long it takes), it becomes white, then fall. Even the fallen flowers have the smell of roses. When all the flowers fade, the leaves turn green again, and the tree start developing fruits.

These fruits are another eccentricity. They are woody, large capsules with a also woody top that fall when the seeds are ready. The open woody capsules (the said Monkey Pots) stay on the plant for a long time, and is sometimes used by birds as nests. The seeds are edible.

It likes full sun, well drained organic soil, high temperatures. It does better on moist soil, but will tolerate pretty well drier conditions, especially in winter.