The Bombax costatum, also known as the red-flowered silk cotton tree resides in the savannas and dry woodlands, resisting heat and fires at up to 25 metres high. How so? Its tuberous roots are well-suited to store water and sugar during times of drought. Its flowers, fruits, leaves, and seed oil have properties that are useful in the preparation of meals for human and animal consumption. Its super-soft, highly-workable wood is perfect for creating dug-out canoes and matchsticks. However, if left untreated, the wood is quite susceptible to insect and fungal damage. But not all insect relations with the red-flowered silk cotton tree are bad—this species is uniquely an essential bee forage species.

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"Listen to this, Job; stop and consider God's wonders. Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash? Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who is perfect in knowledge? You who swelter in your clothes when the land lies hushed under the south wind, can you join him in spreading out the skies, hard as a mirror of cast bronze?"

(Job 37:14-18)