Silk Cotton Tree
Scientific Classification
Scientific Name - Bombax ceiba
Domain - Eukaryota
Kingdom - Plantae
Phylum - Magnoliophyta
Class - Dicotyledons
Order - Malvales
Family - Malvaceae
Genus - Bombax
Species - B.ceiba
The silk cotton tree or ceiba tree is one of the largest trees in the American tropics. The tree has played an important role in the spiritual and economic lives of the peoples who live in the Cirum - Caribbean region. Cotton wood trees are native plants that grow huge - over 100 feet tall and wide. They are famous for producing seeds attached to a cottony mass that floats on the breeze, coats window screens and clogs pool and AC filters. Some people say the cotton - laden seeds make them sneeze.
Silk cotton trees are found in the wild in the tropical rainforests. These deciduous trees are native of South America but can be found in Africa and South East Asia. The ceiba is a rapidly growing deciduous tree that reaches heights of 80 feet or more, and a diameter of five to eight feet above it's buttresses. The buttresses themselves can be up to ten feet tall and extend ten feet from the main trunk. The tree has a brood, flat crown of horizontal branches. The most important ceiba in Guetemala is known as La ceiba de Palin Escuintla which is over 400 years old. In Caracas, Venezuela there is a 100 years old ceiba tree in front of the San Francisco Church known as La ceiba de San Francisco and is an important element in the history of the city.
Silk cotton is a medicinal tree, which is also beneficial in cough and gallstones. By grinding it's raw fruit, making powder or decoction, you get to benefit in stones and other urinary problems. Called Kapok in Asia, the fibers are used for insulation, padding in sleeping bags and life preservers, and for stuffing mattresses and pillows. In Puerto Rico the tree was often planted in the center of plazas for shade, and it's considered a valuable honey tree.
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