Kapok - Ceiba pentandra - Silk Cotton Tree
by Sharon Mau
Title
Kapok - Ceiba pentandra - Silk Cotton Tree
Artist
Sharon Mau
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Ceiba pentandra is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and (as the variety C. pentandra var. guineensis) to tropical west Africa. Kapok is the most used common name for the tree and may also refer to the cotton like fluff obtained from its seed pods. The tree is cultivated for the seed fibre, particularly in south-east Asia, and is also known as the Java cotton, Java kapok, silk-cotton, Samauma, or ceiba.
The tree grows to 70 m (230 ft.) with a trunk up to 3 m (10 ft.) in diameter with buttresses. The trunk and many of the larger branches are often crowded with large simple thorns. The palmate leaves are composed of 5 to 9 leaflets, each up to 20 cm (8 in) long. The trees produce several hundred 15 cm (6 in) pods containing seeds surrounded by a fluffy, yellowish fibre that is a mix of lignin and cellulose. Kapok fibre is light, very buoyant, resilient, resistant to water, but it is very flammable. The process of harvesting and separating the fibre is labour-intensive and manual. It is difficult to spin, but is used as an alternative to down as filling in mattresses, pillows, upholstery, zafus, and stuffed toys such as teddy bears, and for insulation. It was previously much used in life jackets and similar devices until synthetic materials largely replaced the fibre. The seeds produce an oil, used locally in soap and that can be used as fertilizer.
Native tribes along the Amazon River harvest kapok fibre to wrap around their blowgun darts. The fibres create a seal that allows the pressure to force the dart through the tube.
The commercial tree is most heavily cultivated in the rainforests of Asia, notably in Java (hence its nicknames), Philippines, Malaysia, Hainan Island in China as well as in South America. The flowers are an important source of nectar and pollen for honey bees. Information source: Wikipedia
Common Names:
English - Kapok, Ceiba, White Silk-Cotton Tree
Hindi - Safed semal सफ़ेद सेमल
Manipuri - মোৰেহ তেৰা Moreh Tera
Malayalam - Pannimaram
Tamil - Pancu
Telugu - Tellaburaga
Marathi - Samali
Kannada - Dudi
Sanskrit - Kutashalmali
Bengali - শ্ৱেত সিমল Shwet Simul
Sinhala - Kotta
Kapok - Ceiba pentandra - Silk Cotton Tree
Kula Maui Hawaii
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Uploaded
August 5th, 2015
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