Crescentia cujete (detail)

The coité or calabash tree is a small tree that grows in a twisted, low, and very branched shape, and can reach up to 10 meters high. Such tropical species appreciates hot and rainy weather, and might bear fruits throughout the whole year, but especially between January and August. It takes around six months for a fruit to grow and ripen. The flowers have a strong, quite unpleasant fragrance, and are pollinated by bats.