Ceiba pentandra

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Ceiba pentandra
Kapok tree Honolulu.jpg
Kapok planted in Honolulu, Hawai'i
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Rosids
Order:
Malvales
Family:
Malvaceae
Genus:
Ceiba
Species:
C. pentandra
Binomial name
Ceiba pentandra
Synonyms
  • Bombax cumanense Kunth
  • Bombax guineense Schum. & Thonn.
  • Bombax guineensis Schumach.
  • Bombax inerme L.
  • Bombax mompoxense Kunth
  • Bombax occidentale Spreng. [Illegitimate]
  • Bombax orientale Spreng.
  • Bombax pentandrum L.
  • Bombax pentandrum Jacq.
  • Ceiba anfractuosa (DC.) M.Gómez
  • Ceiba caribaea (DC.) A.Chev.
  • Ceiba casearia Medik.
  • Ceiba guineensis (Thonn.) A.Chev.
  • Ceiba guineensis var. ampla A. Chev.
  • Ceiba guineensis var. clausa A. Chev.
  • Ceiba occidentalis (Spreng.) Burkill
  • Ceiba pendrandra f. grisea Ulbr.
  • Ceiba pentandra f. albolana Ulbr.
  • Ceiba pentandra var. caribaea (DC.) Bakh.
  • Ceiba pentandra var. clausa Ulbr.
  • Ceiba pentandra var. dehiscens Ulbr.
  • Ceiba pentandra f. grisea Ulbr.
  • Ceiba pentandra var. indica Bakhuisen
  • Ceiba thonnerii A. Chev.
  • Ceiba thonningii A.Chev.
  • Eriodendron anfractuosum DC.
  • Eriodendron anfractuosum var. africanum DC.
  • Eriodendron anfractuosum var. caribaeum DC.
  • Eriodendron anfractuosum var. guianense Sagot
  • Eriodendron anfractuosum var. indicum DC.
  • Eriodendron caribaeum G.Don
  • Eriodendron caribaeum G. Don ex Loud.
  • Eriodendron guineense G. Don ex Loud.
  • Eriodendron occidentale (Spreng.) G.Don
  • Eriodendron orientale Kostel.
  • Eriodendron pentandrum (L.) Kurz
  • Gossampinus alba Buch.-Ham.
  • Gossampinus rumphii Schott & Endl.
  • Xylon pentandrum Kuntze [1]

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Ceiba pentandra is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae (previously separated in the family Bombacaceae), 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.

Common Names[2]

  • English - Kapok, Ceiba, White Silk-Cotton Tree
  • French - Fromager
  • Hindi - Safed semal सफ़ेद सेमल
  • Manipuri - মোৰেহ তেৰা Moreh Tera
  • Malayalam - Pannimaram
  • Tamil - Ilavam
  • Telugu - Tellaburaga
  • Marathi - Samali
  • Kannada - Dudi
  • Sanskrit - Kutashalmali
  • Bengali - শ্ৱেত সিমল Shwet Simul
  • Sinhala - Kotta [3]
  • Ashante, Twi and Fanteen - Onyãã, or Onyina[4]
  • Mandingo - banã, bãnda (Dioula), bantã (Malinké), banti[5]

Characteristics

The tree grows to 70 m (230 ft) with a trunk up to 3 m (9.8 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 (7.9 in) long. The trees produce several hundred 15 cm (5.9 in) pods containing seeds surrounded by a fluffy, yellowish fibre that is a mix of lignin and cellulose. One of the oldest known trees, at 200 years, lives in Miami, Florida.[6][dubious – discuss]

Uses

Kapok seeds within fibres in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

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.

Ethnomedical uses

Ceiba pentandra bark decoction has been used as a diuretic, aphrodisiac, and to treat headache, as well as type II diabetes. It is used as an additive in some versions of the hallucinogenic drink Ayahuasca.

Kapok seed oil

A vegetable oil can be pressed from kapok seeds. The oil has a yellow colour and a pleasant, mild odour and taste,[7] resembling cottonseed oil. It becomes rancid quickly when exposed to air. Kapok oil is produced in India, Indonesia and Malaysia. It has an iodine value of 85-100; this makes it a nondrying oil, which means that it does not dry out significantly when exposed to air.[7] Kapok oil has some potential as a biofuel and in paint preparation.

Religion and folklore

The kapok is a sacred symbol in Maya mythology.[8]

According to the folklore of Trinidad and Tobago, the Castle of the Devil is a huge kapok 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.[9]

Most masks coming from Burkina Faso, especially those of Bobo and Mossi people, are carved from the kapok timber.[citation needed]

Symbolism

C. pentandra is the national emblem of Guatemala,[8] Puerto Rico,[10] and Equatorial Guinea. It appears on the coat of arms and flag of Equatorial Guinea.[11]

Gallery

  • Kapok flowers I IMG 2377.jpg

    Flowers

  • Kapok leaves I IMG 5949.jpg

    Kapok leaves

  • Kapok Fruit I IMG 3839.jpg

    Kapok Fruit

  • Kapok bark I IMG 2556.jpg

    Kapok bark (with a black-hooded oriole)

  • Ceiba pentandra MS4104.JPG

    Buttress roots

  • Ceiba pentandra fruit out hg.jpg

    Fruit

  • Largest known Kapok specimen, Bangalore, India

  • Ceiba Nassau 1900.jpg

    In Nassau, Bahamas photographed by William Jackson

  • Night view from Palm Beach Florida by Volkan Yuksel DSC09837.jpg

    Night view of the Kapok Tree from Palm Beach, Florida

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-2707382
  2. ↑ http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Kapok%20Tree.html
  3. ↑ http://www.instituteofayurveda.org/plants/plants_detail.php?i=254&s=Family_name
  4. ↑ F.R. Irvine, Woody Plants of Ghana, Oxford University Press: London 1961
  5. ↑ Maurice Delafosse, La langue mandingue et ses dialects (Malinké, Bambara, Dioula), Paris 1929, s.v. fromager.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Kapok seed oil From the German Transport Information Service
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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