Ceiba pentandra

Base of giant specimen in eastern Ecuador

The tree grows up to 240 ft (73 m) tall as confirmed by climbing and tape drop[4] with reports of Kapoks up to 77 meters (252 feet) tall.[5] These very large trees are in the Neotropics or tropical Africa. The Southeast Asian form of C. pentandra only reaches ninety feet (27 meters).[6] Trunks can often be up to 3 m (10 ft) in diameter above the extensive buttress roots. The very largest individuals, however, can be 5.8 m (19 ft) thick or more above the buttresses.[7][8][9][10]

The buttress roots can be clearly seen in photographs extending 12 to 15 m (40 to 50 ft) up the trunk of some specimens[11] and extending out from the trunk as much as 20 m (65 ft) and then continuing below ground to a total length of 50 m (165 ft)[12][13]

The trunk and many of the larger branches are often crowded with large simple thorns. These major branches, usually 4 to 6 in number, can be up to 1.8 m (6 ft) thick[14][15] and form a crown of foliage as much as 61 m (201 ft) in width.[16] 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.

The referenced reports make it clear that C. pentandra is among the largest trees in the world.

The commercial tree is most heavily cultivated in the rainforests of Asia, notably in Java (hence one of its common names), the Philippines, Malaysia, and Hainan Island in China, as well as in South America.

The flowers are an important source of nectar and pollen for honey bees and bats.

Bats are the primary pollinators of the night-blooming flowers.

Native tribes along the Amazon River harvest the fibre to wrap around their blowgun darts. The fibres create a seal that allows the pressure to force the dart through the tube.

The fiber is light, very buoyant, resilient, resistant to water, but very flammable. The process of harvesting and separating the fiber is labor-intensive and menial. 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 popularly used in life jackets and similar devices - until synthetic materials largely replaced the fiber. The seeds produce an oil that is used locally in soap and which can also be used as fertilizer.

The tree is a sacred symbol in Maya mythology.[18]

It is a sacred tree in Palo, Arará and Santería.[19][20]

According to the folklore of Trinidad and Tobago, the Castle of the Devil is a huge C. pentandra growing deep in the forest in which Bazil the demon of death was imprisoned by a carpenter. The carpenter tricked the devil into entering the tree in which he carved seven rooms, one above the other, into the trunk. Folklore claims that Bazil still resides in that tree.[21]

Most masks from Burkina Faso, especially those of Bobo and Mossi people, are carved from C. pentandra timber.[22]

Ceiba pentandra is the national emblem of Guatemala,[18] Puerto Rico,[23] and Equatorial Guinea. It appears on the coat of arms and flag of Equatorial Guinea.[24]

The Cotton Tree was a landmark in downtown Freetown, Sierra Leone, and is considered a symbol of freedom for the former slaves that immigrated there. The 70-metre-tall trunk snapped near the base, and fell in a storm on 24 May 2023.[25]

Saigon, one of a number of older names for Ho Chi Minh City, may be derived from Sài (Sino-Vietnamese "palisade" etc.) and the Vietnamese name for the Kapok tree (bông) gòn, although, in this instance, the tree intended to be named may well be, not the New World Ceiba pentandra, but the Old World Bombax ceiba.

• 
  Canopy
• 
  Underside of single leaf
• 
  Thorny buttress roots and trunk base
• 
  Flowers in profile
• 
  Fruit close-up
• 
  Twigs laden with dehiscent fruit showing kapok
• 
  Single dehiscent fruit revealing kapok-surrounded seeds
• 
  Dehisced fruit having shed shrivelled valves

• The Great Kapok Tree
• Xtabay
• Parque de la Ceiba
• Fiber crop

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ceiba pentandra.

Look up Ceiba pentandra or kapok in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Kapok Fibers Archived 2013-01-20 at the Wayback Machine
• Seed Fibers Archived 2013-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
• Germplasm Resources Information Network: Ceiba pentandra Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
• Ceiba pentandra in Brunken, U., Schmidt, M., Dressler, S., Janssen, T., Thombiano, A. & Zizka, G. 2008. West African plants – A Photo Guide. Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Frankfurt/Main.