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Bombax ceiba
Also called Kapok, Indian Kapok, Kapoktree, Northern Cottonwood, Red Cottontree, Red Silk Cotton, Silk Cottontree
A deciduous tropical tree from Asia and northern Australia, known for red flowers that open on bare branches in spring, followed by cotton-like seed fibres. Commonly planted as a shade and ornamental tree; its key requirement is warmth and full sun.
Bombax ceiba, like other trees of the genus Bombax, is commonly known as cotton tree. More specifically, it is sometimes known as Malabar silk-cotton tree; red silk-cotton; red cotton tree; or ambiguously as silk-cotton or kapok, both of which may also refer to Ceiba pentandra.
This Asian tropical tree has a straight tall trunk and its leaves are deciduous in winter. Red flowers with 5 petals appear in the spring before the new foliage. It produces a capsule which, when ripe, contains white fibres like cotton. Its trunk bears spikes to deter attacks by animals. Although its stout trunk suggests that it is useful for timber, its wood is too soft to be very useful.
The tree is widely planted in southeastern Asian countries and regions (such as in Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, southern China and Taiwan, etc.). According to Chinese historical record, the king of Nam Yuet (located in the southern China and northern Vietnam nowadays), Zhao Tuo, gave a tree to the emperor of the Han dynasty in the 2nd century BC.
This tree is commonly known as Let-pan (Burmese language: လက်ပံ), semal (Hindi: सेमल), shimal (Nepali: सीमल), shimul (Bengali: শিমুল) or ximolu (Assamese: শিমলু) in India. It is widely planted in parks and on roadsides there because of its beautiful red flowers which bloom in March/April. This tree is quite common in New Delhi although it doesn't reach its full size of 60m there because of the semi arid climate. The cotton fibers of this tree can be seen floating in the wind around the time of early May. This tree shows two marked growth sprints in India: in spring and during the monsoon months.
The tree is native to various areas in Tropical Asia and Oceania, which includes Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, South China, Taiwan, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Australia. It is typically found in Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests but in some areas in Southern China they grow in drier valleys and savannas.
The white fluffy fibres are carded into thread and woven into textiles in Nepal and India. In North India, the fibers are also used in pillows. In Thailand, the dry cores of the Bombax ceiba flower (Thai: งิ้ว) are an essential ingredient of the nam ngiao spicy noodle soup of the cuisine of Shan State and Northern Thailand, as well as the kaeng khae curry.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Bombax ceiba by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
