Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Kapok Tree

Ceiba pentandra

Description:

I was attracted to this tree because of it's beautiful large buttressed trunk and branches that came out so oddly perpendicular to the tree. The sign explains a good bit about it. The tree grows to 200–230 ft (60–70 m) tall and it's trunk up to 10 ft (3 m) in diameter with buttresses. The trunk and many of the larger branches are sometimes crowded with large, simple thorns. The leaves are compound, 5 to 9 leaflets, each up to 8 in (20 cm) and palm like. Adults produce several hundred 6 in (15 cm) seed pods. The seed pods are surrounded by fluffy, yellowish fiber. It is a deciduous tree, dropping it's leaves in the dry season. It has white and pink flowers with a foul odor that attracts bats. Pollination occurs as pollen is transferred on the bats' fur. The Kapok tree has many uses. It has lightweight, porous wood which can be used for carvings, coffins and dugout canoes. The seed dispersing fibers are too small for weaving but are good for stuffing in bedding, life preservers and other items. Ceiba pentandra bark decoction has been used as a diuretic, aphrodisiac, and to treat headache, as well as type II diabetes. It is also used as an additive to some versions of the hallucinogenic drink Ayahuasca. Other parts are used as other medicines. A pressed seed oil can be derived from the seeds. It has a yellow color and a mild odor and taste. It is a nondrying oil. Soaps can be made from the oils.

Habitat:

It is a tropical tree, commonly found in rainforests. They live in both wet evergreen and dry semi-deciduous tropical forests.

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

No Comments

RootiB
Spotted by
RootiB

Spotted on May 31, 2005
Submitted on Oct 1, 2012

Related Spottings

Ceiba Ceiba Ceiba trees Ceiba

Nearby Spottings

Yellowtail Yellow Rose Banyan Tree-- Florida Strangler Fig Royal Poinciana Tree aka Flamboyant aka Flame tree
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team