Kapok Tree (Ceiba pentandra) — identification, habitat & look-alikes

The kapok tree is a very tall tropical tree native to tropical America and West Africa, reaching about 198 ft (60 m), with huge buttress roots, a thorny trunk, and seed pods full of the fluffy fiber called kapok. In the U.S. it grows wild in Puerto Rico, where it is the official national tree, and planted trees can be seen in South Florida. It is also known as ceiba or silk-cotton tree.

Appearance

Growth form: A briefly deciduous giant. The tallest verified tree reached about 198 ft (60.4 m). Trunks can be about 10 ft (3 m) across above enormous buttress roots, and the trunk and big limbs carry large thorns.
Leaves: Palmately compound, with 5–9 (up to 15) leaflets.
Flowers: Creamy white to reddish flowers open in clusters while the tree is leafless. They open at night and are pollinated mainly by bats; honey bees also visit for nectar and pollen.
Fruit: Hundreds of pods about 6 in (15 cm) long. Inside, the seeds are wrapped in fluffy, yellowish kapok fiber.

Look-alikes

Silk floss treeCeiba speciosa

Silk floss tree has a bottle-shaped trunk that is green when young, and showy pink-and-white flowers. Kapok has creamy white to reddish flowers and develops huge buttress roots.

Why they get mixed upBoth are thorny Ceiba trees with cottony pods, and silk floss tree is planted along city streets in the southern U.S.

Red silk-cotton treeBombax ceiba

Red silk-cotton tree has big red flowers on bare branches. Kapok's flowers are creamy white, and kapok usually grows much taller.

Why they get mixed upBoth are called "kapok tree" in Florida, where both are planted, and both have cottony pods.

Where it lives

Typical habitats: tropical forests
riverbanks
abandoned farmland
Range: Native from Mexico and Central America through the Caribbean to northern South America, and also found in western and central Africa. In Puerto Rico it grows wild along riverbanks and in the dry southern lowlands. It was introduced to South Florida (Palm Beach, Miami, Key West), where you may see planted trees in parks and arboretums; it is sensitive to freezes.

Conservation

IUCN Red List: LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction

Culture and stories

Culture and stories: Kapok fiber is hollow, light, and buoyant. Before World War II it was a key filling for life jackets and aviation clothing, and it is still used to stuff pillows and mattresses, though synthetics largely replaced it after the 1960s.
The tree was sacred to the Maya and is a national symbol of Guatemala as well as Puerto Rico.