Phenology

• Title

  Phenology

• Description

  Poiteau (1825) observed that trees of this species growing in their native habitat in sandy soils on the Ile de Cayenne, French Guiana lost their leaves in March and again in September, remained 18 days almost leafless, and then flowered and flushed new leaves. Ormond et al. (1985) made observations on leaf fall, leaf flush, flowering, and fruiting during five-years on 13 trees of Couroupita guianensis growing outside their native range in the botanical garden of the Museu Nacaional in Rio de Janeiro. These trees dropped and flushed new leaves two to three times a year. The leaves turn yellow, fall to the ground, and flush leaves within 15 days after the old leaves have fallen. Leaves were most frequently flushed just before the onset of flowering and there was little synchrony in leaf fall and flush among the trees they observed. The trees flowered from November through May with a peak in January and February with any given tree flowering one to three times during this period. The trunks of some trees were covered by flowering inflorescences that reached as long as 80 cm. and a given tree held as many as 1000 open flowers per day. Fruits in this area fell from October through April.