Ceiba pentandra Kopok tree, Silk-cotton tree Ta Prohm, Cambodia By Isabel Zucker 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/landscap e/recommended-tree-list.pdf Magnificent… Urban takeover!! 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 .