Bombax cieba - Tropical Cotton Tree

Fantastic !

Wow - we have them here but I've never seen one that big. They're one of my favourite winter flowering trees - they're just dropping their flowers now and the leafless trees with their fantastic bumpy bark look so weird. We also call them the Kapok Tree or the Red Silk Cotton Tree.

This is where Kapok comes from then and cotton's from low growing bushes i thought ?

I think both the kapok tree (Bombax cieba) and the silk-cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra) produce kapok. I think it's the Ceiba pentandra's kapok that is used for cushions etc though. Correct me if I'm wrong Delonix.

Interesting.

Louise1, Bernieh:

This is a fantastic tree is correct!
One of its common names is Kapok tree, Silk-Cotton Tree and list goes on...Ceiba pentandra and all the other genera previously used have all been reclassified into the genus Bombax.

Bernieh, you're correct they bloom in winter, not spring...these trees grow here in San Diego, CA. also...however, the tallest ones I've seen are only 60 feet /20 meters tall which are dwarfed by the large ones in Hawaii. They produce kapok which used to be used as an inferior cotton now...it still may be used in some countries though.

wow what an awesome tree. love the roots....and enjoying learning so much on here...kapok comes from a tree.......;-))

That is huge Andy...........

Sandra:

There's many trees in the Bombaceae family which produce kapok. This is just one species. : > )

Milky:

Yes, it is...you have no idea until you see the whole tree. It's incredibly massive! : > )

Wonderful... how old is this tree... do you have any idea?

Aleyna:

I'm not exactly how hold this tree is...however, I can speculate it may be more than 100 years old. Foster's Botanical Garden was established circa 1850. I've only seen a few of these trees this large...all in the Hawaiian Islands.

The tallest ones I've seen in Southern Ca. are only 50 feet / 16 meters or so in height.