Semul or Silk Cotton

Bombax ceiba

A well-known tall upright flowering tree, branches in whorls, smooth silverly grey bark, leaves digitately compound (fanning out like fingers from the central stalk). Flowers large bell-shaped, thick petalled, scarlet, produced profusely in leafless tree in early spring.

Leaf: digitately compound, leaflets 5-7 in number 4-8’’ long petioles are 1’’, central stalk 6-8’’ long

Flower: Bell-shaped. Scarlet petals 2-3’’ long, fleshy

Fruit: hard woody capsule 4-5’’ long with embedded silky white cotton.

Season: Leaves fall during cold season, flower bloom in leafless tree in early spring, followed by new leaves. Fruits form immediately and mature in summer when the capsules burst open releasing the seeds which float due to the attached floss.

Range/habitat: Native of hotter parts of India, especially common in Terai-Dooars forests.

Trivia and notes: When in flower, this tree acts as a magnet for the birds (not just the nectar feeding ones, but virtually everyone joins the party). Fallen flower are food for wildlife. Simul sheds its smaller branches regularly so fallen small twigs are a common sight under this tree. Silk cotton resembles two other trees in structure, wild almond & kapok (a.k.a. white silk cotton). Careful examination of leaves is sufficient to tell them apart. In wild almond the stalks of the leaflets are almost non-existent and in kapok they are much smaller than silk cotton.

Where to Find: [In Rabindra Sarovar, Kolkata] One inside padma pukur compound diagonally opposite side of its entrance (close to the main road beside lake). The one photographed is in the south east section of the lake (22.51034N,88.36072E)