Ceiba pentandra Kopok tree, Silk-cotton tree

By Isabel Zucker

Ta Prohm, Cambodia

Largest known specimen in Lal Bagh Gardens in Bangalore, India.

http://scienceray.com/biology/botany/amazing-trees-from-around-the-world-the-seven-wonder-trees/

Ceiba pentandra Taxonomy • Family: Malvaceae • Sub family: Bombacaceae

-Bombax spp. in same family - much online confusion as

to which tree is primarily in Ta Praham, Cambodia.

• Fig(Moraceae), banyan and kapok trees in Ta Praham

• Often referred to as a banyan tree, which is quite confusing.

Distribution • Originated in the American tropics,

natural and human distribution. • Africa, Asia.

– Especially Indonesia and Thailand • Indian ocean islands • Ornamental shade tree • Zone

– Humid areas, rainforest, dry areas – Mean annual precipitation 60-224

inches per year – Temperatures ranging from 73-80

unaffected by frost – Elevation from 0-4,500 feet – Dry season ranging from 0-6

months

Characteristics

• Rapidly growing, deciduous • Reaches height up to 200 feet • Can grow 13 feet per year • Diameter up to 9 feet above

buttress – Buttress can extend 10 feet from

the trunk and be 10 feet tall • large umbrella-shaped

canopies emerge above the forest canopy

• http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/caribarch/ceiba.htm

• Home to many animals – Birds, frogs, insects – Flowers open in the

evening, pollinated by bats

• Epiphytes grow in branches

• Compound leaves with 5-8 lance-shaped leaflets 3-8 inches long

• Dense clusters of whitish to pink flowers December to February

– 3-6 inch long, elliptical fruits. – Seeds of fruit surrounded by dense,

cottony fibers. – Fibers almost pure cellulose, buoyant,

impervious to water, low thermal conductivity, cannot be spun.

• Used for insulation, padding in sleeping bags, life preservers, stuffing in mattresses and pillows.

– Kapok fibre is irritating to the eyes, nose and throat, and workers exposed to kapok dust for long periods may develop chronic bronchitis.

• Native peoples to the West Indies and coastal central and South America make canoes

• Some can carry more than 100 men !

• Wood lightweight and easy to work – Lacks durability,

susceptible to insects and decay so not used for other construction

• Dugout canoes still made today from Ceiba trees

• Buttresses made into plates, doors, trays, tables

Ethnobotanical Uses • Timber, fiber. • Oil for lamps, paints, soap making • Leaves can be eaten by cattle, goats, sheep • Leaves, flowers, young fruits eaten and

cooked into sauces • Flowers visited by bees, unique taste to

honey • Seed oil in soap and pharmaceutical

manufacturing • African traditional medicine

– Treat diarrhoea, dysentry, hypertension, dysmenorrhoea

– Stem bark decoctions for treating toothache and mouth problems, stomach issues, heart trouble, fever, asthma, wounds, sores

– Leaf sap drunk to treat mental illness, skin infections.

• http://database.prota.org/PROTAhtml/Ceiba%20pentandra_En.htm

Urban Uses •City of Plantation, FL Department of Landscape Architecture lists as a flowering shade tree •Roots tend to crack sidewalks, roads and buildings; large surface roots •Does not withstand initial shade; light loving •Requires pruning •Fast growth rate could promote weak structure and branch failure •Can grow on stone!

http://www.plantation.org/docs/landscape/recommended-tree-list.pdf

Urban takeover!!

Magnificent…

Diseases

• Infections caused by fungal pathogens – Anthracnose, leaf spot by Colletortrichum capsici. – Stem dieback by Fusarium solani , Lasiodiplodia

theobromae • Host tree of Cacao Swollen Shoot Virus,

causes swollen shoot disease in cocoa – Devastates cocoa production in Ghana and

neighboring countries – Ceiba not negatively effected by virus – http://database.prota.org/PROTAhtml/Ceiba%20pentandra_En.htm

Bibliography

• “Silk Cotton Tree: Home to the spirits of the forest.” Caribbean Archaeology . Florida Museum of Natural History. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/caribarch/ceiba.htm

• http://www.ceiba.org/ceiba.htm • http://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/pubs/sm_iitf029%2

0%20%284%29.pdf • http://lee.ifas.ufl.edu/Hort/GardenPubsAZ/Ceiba_

pentandra.pdf • http://www.plantation.org/docs/landscape/recom

mended-tree-list.pdf