Common Name(s): Silk Cotton Tree, Kapok, Pochote

Synonym(s):

Family: Malvaceae

Native To: Sonora, Chihuahua, and Baja California Sur, Mexico

Native Habitat: Found in dry, subtropical forests.

Growth Habit: A medium sized tree; the UA Kapok standing about 30 feet tall.

Flowering: May and June

Distinguishing Characteristics: Leaves are palmately compound, with approximately 7 leaflets which can reach to 4 inches long. Typically they emerge with flowers in late May, but drop as soon as the rainy season ends. Bark is thick, gray bark, and studded with conical "thorns" which, with age, grow to be pyramidal lumps up to an inch in height, quite similar to the closely related genus Chorisia. Flowers are roughly 3 inches in length, with five white to pale pink petals, a somewhat fuzzy inside, and are covered with golden hairs on the outside. What look like 5 stamens emerge from a central column. These are actually bundles of several stamens. Because they are bat-pollinated, they open on warm evenings, then collapse with the light of day. The fruits are football-shaped capsules, up to 9 inches in length, that hang on the branches long after leaves have fallen. During the dry winter season they dehisce, popping open with an audible noise and scattering seeds covered with a white, cotton-like substance to the wind.

Natural History and Cultivation Notes: Warren Jones is responsible for having gathered the seeds for this particular Kapok tree. He remembers collecting them on a trip through southern Sonora. The seeds were germinated at the Campus Ag Center greenhouses, and the tree was installed in the late 1970s. On a campus with many nooks and crannies, it was easy to choose a southwestern exposure and protected (and possibly more humid) microclimate.

Ethnobotany: Prior to the development of polyester, life jackets were made of kapok, the natural, cotton-like fiber packed into the fruits of the Kapok tree. Kapok also was used to make the cores of softballs, badminton birdies, and pillows.

The following information comes from Richard Felger’s research regarding Ceiba use in Mexico: The Guarijíío, Mayo, and Yaqui harvested the tender, tuberous roots from young saplings or trees, generally as an emergency food; roots of larger trees are also edible but more fibrous and less desirable. The tuberous roots are peeled and eaten fresh or roasted. As emergency liquid, one would just suck on the root. The Yaqui relied on this plant for food and liquid during the Yaqui–Mexican wars. The seeds are oily and edible, with a butter-like endosperm and a nut-like flavor; they are usually roasted and ground. The seeds have been used by the Yaqui for allergies. The fluffy kapok serves as stuffing for pillows. The wood is sometimes used for tomato crates and pallets, cots, and occasionally as house beams if protected from the rain. (Trees of Sonora, p. 86)

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