Digital Garden

Ceiba pentandra

Kapok

Scientific Name- Ceiba pentandra

Common name- kapok tree

 Family- Malvaceae

Habit – Tree

Leaf- The leaf is glabrous and digitate, being composed of 5, 7 or 9 leaflets. Leaves are alternate with slender green petioles. There are usually 5 leaflets in a mature form. The leaflets hang down on short stalks; short pointed at the base and apex, not toothed on edges, thin, bright to dark green above and dull green beneath.

Flowers- Great quantities of flowers are in lateral clusters near the ends of the twigs. Calyx cup-shaped, with 5-10 shallow teeth. Petals 5, white to rose coloured; brown, silky, densely hairy on the outer surface; stamens 5, longer than petals, united into a column at the base. Pistil a 5-celled ovary with a long style curved near the apex and an enlarged stigma.

Fruits- Fruit a leathery, ellipsoid, pendulous capsule, 10-30 cm long, usually tapering at both ends, rarely dehiscing on the tree. White, pale yellow or grey floss originates from the inside wall of the fruit. Seed capsules split open along 5 lines. Each capsule releases 120-175 seeds rounded black seeds embedded in a mass of grey woolly hairs. Seeds dark brown.

Significance-

Fibre- The fibre from the inner wall of the fruit is unique in that it combines springiness and resilience and is resistant to vermin, to make it ideal for stuffing pillows, mattresses and cushions. It is light, water repellent and buoyant, making it ideal for life jackets, lifeboats and other safety apparatus. It is an excellent material for insulating iceboxes, refrigerators, cold-storage plants, offices, theatres and aeroplanes. It is a good sound absorber and is widely used for acoustic insulation; it is indispensable in hospitals, since mattresses can be dry sterilized without losing original quality.

Timber- The wood is easy to peel for veneer. Reported uses of wood include plywood, packaging, lumber core stock, light construction, pulp and paper products, canoes and rafts, farm implements, furniture and matches.

Medicine: Compressed fresh leaves are used against dizziness; decoction of the boiled roots is used to treat oedema; gum is eaten to relieve stomach upset; tender shoot decoction is a contraceptive and leaf infusion is taken orally against cough and hoarse throat.