KAPOK TREE / SILK COTTON TREE (Ceiba Pentandra)
This large tree can grow up to 70m tall. It can be found in tropical America and tropical West Africa. The young tree has a pagoda shaped crown with branches extending horizontally from the trunk. Sharp prickles developed on the trunk and branches. The flowers are large with petals that are white-based, highlighted with yellow or pink. The fruits, arranged in bunches, are ellipsoid capsules that grows up to 15 cm long. The fruits split along 5 sutures to release the seeds, and silky hair that grow from the inner fruit wall surface. In fact the Latin name of pentandra means with five bundles of stamens.
In South America, the silk cotton tree is revered as a habitat for spirits. This tree is grown for the silky hairs from the inside fruit wall - the kapok fiber of commerce. The cotton had been used as pillow stuffing and also the fillings for life jackets. The seeds, by product of the fiber production, can be crushed to extract the kapok oil, and used similarly to cotton (Gossypium species) oil, which it resembles. The seed cake becomes cattle food. There are also numerous medicinal use for its leaves, root, gum and bark. The timber is used for furniture components, plywood, boxes and crates in paper products.
Do you know ... the Malays In Southeast Asia believe that the tree is the abode of the Pontianak (a female vampire who terrorizes the living; originally a woman who died at childbirth and become the undead.)
In South America, the silk cotton tree is revered as a habitat for spirits. This tree is grown for the silky hairs from the inside fruit wall - the kapok fiber of commerce. The cotton had been used as pillow stuffing and also the fillings for life jackets. The seeds, by product of the fiber production, can be crushed to extract the kapok oil, and used similarly to cotton (Gossypium species) oil, which it resembles. The seed cake becomes cattle food. There are also numerous medicinal use for its leaves, root, gum and bark. The timber is used for furniture components, plywood, boxes and crates in paper products.
Do you know ... the Malays In Southeast Asia believe that the tree is the abode of the Pontianak (a female vampire who terrorizes the living; originally a woman who died at childbirth and become the undead.)