A particular thing about them is that the flower stems sprout from the tree trunk.
The trees can be gigantic, I don't have pictures from the foliage, their crowns are so high up preventing to see any details, and also when you look up you often can not distinguish who's foliage is who's, everything so entangled

These are from another tree from another trip long ago, from which I think is the same species..

Myriam. are you familiar with William Wyat Thomas?

http://www.nybg.org/botany/ofn...

No Jean, I am not familiar with William Wyat Thomas..
I see the organisation is dedicated in inventorying the neotropical flora..

It is my understanding that Dr Thomas is at the New York Botanical Garden, and is considered to be something of an expert on the Brazilian Atlantic Coastal Rain Forest. I thought perhaps some of the plants you have trouble finding an identity for may be included in some of his work. Possibly he has on-line reference information.

Every time I get a few minutes to spare I have been looking for matches for your tree. I thought a picture I ran across looked similar but it was a cocoa tree flower..

Thanks Jean, I did some search around dr. William Wyat Thomas and found that his research work is focused on the coastal region of (Bahia, NE Brazil) a state above the Rio de Janeiro state (SE Brazil), where I found my trees..
Of course both states probably have a quite some species in common, unfortunately only a few pictures are put online..

http://www.nybg.org/bsci/res/b...

One of those plants we will stumble across perhaps. Sorry the link didn't help.

Myriam, look at Guarea macrophylla ..

http://ornithologyexchange.org...

http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/pla...

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

I had more to post but my computer is playing up.

http://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.u...

Guarea macrophylla subsp. tuberculata is in Rio de Janeiro ..

https://sites.google.com/site/...

http://www.theplantlist.org/tp...

ATP is waiting for photos.

Guarea macrophylla subsp. tuberculata

Wow, amazing! How did you came upon that Janet?
You knew it was in the Meliaceae?
I had been searching in some families but that's a long time ago and I forgot which..
Guarea macrophylla subsp. tuberculata it will be!

Amazing!

I had done some searches already using words such as "trunk flowering tree Atlantic Rainforest", I also tried using additional words 'fruiting trees' and "nut flowers" but with no success. I really didn't think I was going to find it and almost gave up.

Yesterday I decided to go through the whole of plants listed for Brazil on the Tropical Plant Guides site:

http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/pla...

I hadn't a clue which family it was in, so I just selected Brazil and chose 400 results to a page, with 11 pages in the results.

I got part way down page 7 and began to feel search fatigue so I closed the site down thinking I wasn't going to find it. My computer arrow has a sharp double click (I've tried slowing it down) when I only click once and often closes two tabs at once , so to save me going through the process of opening the site and searching again I often create a new page of the site (Ctrl + N) and minimize it to the bottom bar.

I went off for a break, when I came back I realised the minimised page was still there and having already got my terrier teeth so deeply embedded in the subject there was only one way I could release my teeth. I opened up the minimised link, went to page 7 where I had left off, and continued. I found it not far from where I had left off on page 7!!!!

Oh I remember now I had been searching in the Brazilian families listed in the Fieldmuseum too, but I think I gave up with 'search fatigue' at the time..

Wow, that was a big job!
Amazing too you found it on the page where you had left!

Thank the terrier.

JRsbugs said:Thank the terrier.

Will do!