Today's Tree

Ceibo / Kapok

This is one of my very favorite trees in Ecuador.  The Kapok is a tropical tree native to the drier regions of Ecuador and Peru.  The flowers open during the nighttime and are pollinated by bats.  Usually the trees flower every five years and only when the tree is leafless.  This generally occurs during the dry season.   

Fruits and seeds from the tree contain lightweight fibers that are water-repellent. During the 1940s, the fluff, or kapok, that surrounds the seeds was harvested commercially for stuffing seat cushions, mattresses and saddles.  Being lighter than cotton, buoyant and resistant to saturation by water, it also made an excellent filler for life preservers.  Kapok fluff has now been replaced by more modern materials and is no longer in such high demand.  

The wood of the Kapok is not greatly desired commercially.  It is soft and light and thus is not suitable for furniture making.  Indigenous peoples traditionally used the trunk of this tree to construct dugout canoes.

**Kapok tree information obtained from the following website:

http://www.sangay.com/ecuadorguide/ecuador/kapok-or-ceibo-tree-majestic-giant-of-the-ecuadorian-coast/