Ceiba pentandra commonly called Kapok tree in Asia and Silk Cotton tree in the Caribbean originated from the American tropics, Asia and Africa
Silk Cotton trees can be found in many Caribbean countries and here in Guyana too. However, it was never commercially important to the Caribbean as it was most feared.
The Silk Cotton tree is a large deciduous tree. It can grow to a height of 80ft to almost 100ft with wide spreading branches that often form a crown and a huge trunk of more than 9ft in diameter making it one of the largest trees in the American tropics. The leaves are compound with 5-6 lance-shaped leaflets that are approximately 3 – 9 inches long.
From December to February the tree produces numerous five-part whitish to pink flowers which occur in dense clusters. The tree also produces 3 – 5 inches long elliptical fruits with seeds embedded in cotton-like fibre.
In Asia, the fibre is used for insulation and padding of sleeping bags. In the American tropics the native Indians used the trunk to make canoes.
In Guyana, the Silk Cotton tree is also known as the ‘Jumbie’ Tree. According to folklore, it is the most feared and notorious place to find a spirit and other supernatural being. A person would therefore not cut down a Silk Cotton tree for fear of freeing the jumbies (spirits) who lived in it to roam the land.
In some areas, persons still would not dare to cut down a Silk Cotton tree, while others would make an ‘offering’ before doing so.
One of the most notable Silk Cotton trees is in the village of Mahaicony, where a large tree grew in the middle of the road. When the highway was built, it was split into two lanes at Mahaicony, to allow the Silk Cotton tree to remain.
At present, the offspring of the original tree are still growing in the middle of the road at Mahaicony.
Until next week, Happy Gardening.
