Floss Silk Tree season-Ceiba speciosa

[Eric in Orlando]

Its that time of year, Floss Silk Trees (Ceiba speciosa) are in bloom. These are growing at EPCOT.

[JungleGina]

It's not in bloom in this pic, but check out the size of the root system alone on this baby (located on the island in West Palm Beach)...

[MattyB]

I just saw a white/yellow floss silk. It was stunning. Does anyone have pics of these. I'd never seen one before.

[Eric in Orlando]

It's not in bloom in this pic, but check out the size of the root system alone on this baby (located on the island in West Palm Beach)...

Gina,

That is a related tree, Ceiba pentandra, Kapok Tree. It is the largest in FL and an incredible specimen. It was planted in the 1880s or '90s I think.

[MattyB]

I thought the floss silk tree was Chorisia? Eric, can you enlighten us? They must be synonymous because it's obviously the same tree right?

[Eric in Orlando]

Its one of those recent taxonomic revisions. All Chorisia species have been placed into Ceiba. Also, the family it belongs to has also changed. The Bombacaceae, along with Sterculiaceae and Tiliaceae, have been placed into Malvaceae (mallows and hibiscus)

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[Peter]

Matt, Chorisia insignis has cream/whitish flowers and usually has a bulging trunk. Here are some photos(all of these trees are at the Huntington):

[Peter]

Great shots Eric! Here are a few in Socal:

Here is a tree which I thought was C. insignis, but there has been some speculation that it might be a white variety of speciosa. It does look different than a regular insignis:

[ariscott]

I can't wait till mine flowers.... I love the look of that Ceiba insignis!! I might have to hunt around for those. Did you see any seeds on the tree, Peter??

Regards, Ari

[SubTropicRay]

I was at Epcot last weekend for their Food and Wine Festival and saw these nice specimens. Thanks for sharing Eric.

[Eric in Orlando]

I was at Epcot last weekend for their Food and Wine Festival and saw these nice specimens. Thanks for sharing Eric.

The festival was great, I ate more than I should of but there were lots of good things for sale. I never get tired of going to the Disney parks. or Sea World or Universal either.

[Eric in Orlando]

Peter, that white tree looks like a selection Monrovia was selling called 'Angel'. They sell it as a cultivar of C. speciosa but it is probably a hybrid with C. insignis. We have one and it has never grown tall, like the one in the photo.

Here is 'Angel', you can just barely see some light pink streaks in it;

and this is a cool one its a multiple hybrid, (C. insignis x C. speciosa)x C. chodatii.

Ceiba chodatii has yellow flowers so its a white and pink hybrid crossed with yellow.

[fastfeat]

I can't wait till mine flowers.... I love the look of that Ceiba insignis!! I might have to hunt around for those. Did you see any seeds on the tree, Peter??

Regards, Ari

Ari--

C. insignis at Fullerton Arboretum regularly sets seed. I'll check for pods next time I'm out there. (Looking for fresh Bulnesia arborea here in FL for you too...)

[SubTropicRay]

I ate more than I should

Isn't that the whole point of going?

[Peter]

Wow, very cool Eric. And Ari, last year I collected seed from a particularly thorny insignis at a nursery in San Diego; I think I'm heading down there again in a few weeks so I'll look to see if there are any pods. The tree was completely loaded with them when I was there last.

[ariscott]

Thank you Ken & Peter.... there is always room for more trees in my 5 acres, although it starts filling up fast!!!

Regards, Ari

[spockvr6]

Have any of you Tampa area folks ever seen the massive Silk Floss tree growing off of Nebraska Ave, just north of Fletcher? Its on the west side of the street in what I think is the entrance to a mobile home park. It is absolutely massive and in full bloom right now. Its many many times the size of the one growing at the USF Botanical Gardens.

[SubTropicRay]

I'll have to look for that one Larry, thanks. That's pretty amazing as that's not the warmest part of town.

[spockvr6]

I'll have to look for that one Larry, thanks. That's pretty amazing as that's not the warmest part of town.

Ray-

If you drive by anytime soon (while its in full bloom), you couldnt miss it if you tried!

[Peter]

I went back by the Huntington today and took a closeup of the white flowered Chorisia. Eric, I think you're right on about it being an insignis x speciosa, as there seems to be some slight pink streaking in the flower:

[Eric in Orlando]

Nice flower!

It seems most of the Ceiba species that were formerly Chorisia hybridize very readily. I have read that all these former Chorisia species may just be variants of C. speciosa and maybe lumped accordingly in the future.. Even C. speciosa is variable on its own. You can grow 100 seeds off of one tree and get 100 different trees. Height, spininess, flower color, flower size will all be different. We have a C. speciosa that came up in a batch of seeds as spineless. In about 6-7 years years it has grown to about 30ft tall but never flowered yet. It still has a smooth, green trunk, no spines. I will go out and get a photo today.

[spockvr6]

I'll have to look for that one Larry, thanks. That's pretty amazing as that's not the warmest part of town.

Ray-

I drove by there today and snapped a few shots with my cell phone.

[spockvr6]

Here are a few more for scale.....the trunk looks to be 4-5 ft in diameter....see my shoe in the middle of one of the photos.

[spockvr6]

Heres one more, where I tried to get the whole tree in the pic, but the file somehow got corrupted and got cut off! But, you can see the power poles in the background for scale. In the pic above, you can see my car for some meaure of scale as well.

Edited November 7, 2008 by spockvr6

[Eric in Orlando]

Thats a big tree.

There are some huge ones over there in Busch Gardens. One of them has a Washingtonia growing in it.

[bubba]

Gina and Eric,The tree in Gina's picture is the Florida Champion Kapok tree(Ceiba petandra) and is located just South of Whitehall.I nominated it to the State after Eric had commented on it and actually have a Document confirming that it is indeed the Florida Champion.

It was planted in 1892 by the Garden Supervisor at Flagler's Royal Palm Hotel.After the Hotel burned down in the 1920's,Mary Kenan Flagler(Flagler's widow)wanted to cut it down because it blocked her view.This mobilized a group of locals to buy the land to preserve the tree.

The Champion is now located on the premises of the Royal Poincianna Chapel in Palm Beach.

[Wai`anae Steve]

I would love to have seeds from any one of the trees shown in this thread.

I have some Lonomea seeds just harvested Tuesday from a tree in Makaha Valley that I could swap for.

Lonomea Tree

Wai`anae Steve