Scientific Name : Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn.
Common Name : Kapok Ceiba, Silk Cotton Tree
Chinese Name : 吉貝, 美洲木棉
Family : BOMBACACEAE
Local distribution status : Exotic species
| Origin | Tropical America, such as Bahamas, Mexico and Nicaragua. |
|---|---|
| Ecology | Like Kigelia africana (Sausage Tree), Kapok Ceiba is also a nocturnal tree. At nighttime, the tree blossoms and release pungent odour that is beloved by bats (e.g. Cynopterus sphinx). When bats visit the blossoms, the pollens cling to their hairs and complete mating following their flight to another flowers. The flowers are closed or detached at daytime, leaving shortage of time for pollination by diurnal animals. |
| National tree | The national tree of Guatemala and Puerto Rico. |
| Sacred and valuable tree |
Kapok Ceiba is fast-growing and can attain a stunning 30 m. The extensive root system and stiff buttress render the tree excellent windfirm and support nutrients for growing. Wild Kapok Ceiba is always protruded from the upper canopy. Considering its majestic character, the tree was worshipped by the ancient Maya people who believed that the tree was grown in the centre of the world, grasped the universe and built a connection from world to heaven. In Hong Kong, a row of Kapok Ceiba planting along the periphery of Victoria Park render an aura of wonderful shading effect. The trees are registered as old and valuable trees (OVTs) in respect of their astonishing tree height and diameter at breast height. The OVT (LCSD WCH/29, https://ovt.greening.gov.hk/detail.aspx?id=3669&m=13) is currently the most gigantic Kapok Ceiba in Hong Kong, measured with DBH at 1360 mm, height at 33.5 m and crown spread at 20 m. |
| Application | The light and flexible wood is always processed into match and clog. The fruits yielding profuse silky wool can be used for fillers of pillow, life jacket and mattress due to their enormous buoyancy and low water-absorption. The seeds are extracted for making soap and producing biodiesel. With a striking tree shape and broad crown, is a shade effect of the main street tree species. |
| Growing habit | Deciduous tree. |
|---|---|
| Height | To 30 m or above. |
| Root | Strong buttresses in old trees. |
| Stems | Bark greyish brown, stem spiny when young. Branchlets verticillate, spreading horizontally. |
| Leaves | Palmately compound alternate, leaflets 5-9. Blade thin-leathery, glabrous, oblong-lanceolate, apex acute or acuminate, base cuneate, entire or remotely and minutely toothed toward the apex. |
| Flower | Flowers fascicled in leaf axils on upper part of twigs, subterminal, solitary or in fascicles. Petals 5, cream. Blossoming at nighttime and shedding or closed before next afternoon. |
| Fruit | Capsules large, ellipsoid, tapering toward tip, filled by dense silky wool, brown and dehiscing into 5 valves at maturity. |
| Seeds | Seeds black, globose. |
| Flowering period | March to April in Hong Kong. |
| Fruiting period | May to July in Hong Kong. |
Scientific name above is based on Hong Kong Herbarium website : https://herbarium.gov.hk/en/hk-plant-database/plant-detail/index.html?pType=species&oID=4524
Scientific names from other databases :
― Flora of China : Ceiba pentandra (Linnaeus) Gaertner
— Plants of the World Online : Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn.