giant Bombax ceiba

[fastfeat]

Just saw this monstrous Bombax ceiba (B. malabaricum) on CR611 near Safety Harbor at Sam Ash Music. Easily the largest tree in the neighborhood, this tree's size was hard to capture in pictures. I had to stand across a six-lane highway to get the whole tree in the shot. The tree was a veteran of many storms, with some huge, stubbed branches and an active beehive. Sadly, only one large, faded red flower remained...

[Justin]

That's awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[Wai`anae Steve]

There is one in Foster Gardens in Honolulu that I believe is larger. It's never been "trimmed" by hurricanes and is probably about 150 years old.

My link

My link #2

[BS Man about Palms]

Wait. Isn't that the one that was the original Kapok tree restaraunt? If So, I ate there as a kid a couple times...

[ariscott]

Wow... grow my bombax.... grow....

Regards, Ari

[fastfeat]

Bill--

Not sure. This is a big building, currently used by Sam Ash not only as a store, but also to teach music lessons.

Steve--

Thanks for those pics. The Foster trees are Ceiba pentandra (smaller, whitish flowers). Typically a huge tree, that's what I expected this to be. But this is the red silk-cotton, with flowers like this (shot in Miami last year). Imagine a tree of this size in red!:

[tropicbreeze]

Bombax ceiba var leiocarpum is native to this area but I don't know anywhere that it's growing cultivated. But I've seen some quite large trees growing out in the wild. Saw some large ones last week but didn't take any photos. Probably should try to grow some. They get up to 20 metres tall, usually flower end of winter.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Cool tree. Does it bloom well in Collie-fornia? That one is so big you see the decorative columns getting tilted by the roots. It also looks like someone put lightning cables in the tree, or were those light cables or just vines? I have a little one in my yard but it is the "orange glow" variety. What age/size do they normally start blooming?

[fastfeat]

Cool tree. Does it bloom well in Collie-fornia? That one is so big you see the decorative columns getting tilted by the roots. It also looks like someone put lightning cables in the tree, or were those light cables or just vines? I have a little one in my yard but it is the "orange glow" variety. What age/size do they normally start blooming?

Jerry--

Grows well in SoCal, but is rare there. I've only seen at LA Arboretum, grafted on Ceiba/Chorisia speciosa.

That was a lighting conduit (and vines) running up the trunk.

My guess is that they probably need at least five years or so to bloom, maybe less if grafted?

Ken.

[Eric in Orlando]

yes, that is the old site of the Kapok Tree Inn

http://benzplace.com/kapok/index.html

[rozpalm]

Jerry, mine is not grafted and it just started blooming a year ago (2009). My guess is that its around 8-10yrs old. I have heard that if they are grafted they bloom much earlier.

Eric: Thanks for that link. I never realized that the Kapok Tree Inn was such a formal place.

[Central Floridave]

cool looking tree, thanks for the info and photos!

[bubba]

This is also referred to as a Kapok. It has been denominated as the Florida Champion.

Posted 14 May 2010 - 08:52 PM

This is the Florida Champion Kapok, that has been forever humbled bt Ari's specimen taken in Singapore:

Resized to 46% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

This is another view from across Whitehall:

Resized to 46% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

"Be kind, for everyone you encounter is fighting a great battle."

[BS Man about Palms]

Thanks for that Eric.

I do remember going to dinner there many times as a kid when visiting my grandparents, then I took my Grandmother there on a visit for dinner. It was to be the last "dinner out" with her that I was able to go to as she lived so far from me and she was 90 or 91 at the time. I think I went there last in 1991, if so she would have been 91.

[BeerPlant]

:rage:The food was great there as well! I went to Sam Ash about a month ago and the blooms were basically gone then as well. Also they have a Ceiba Speciosa hybrid (couldnt tell which one) and tried to pull a couple of the many the seedlings growing around it- forget about it!

[Wai`anae Steve]

This is also referred to as a Kapok. It has been denominated as the Florida Champion.

Posted 14 May 2010 - 08:52 PM

This is the Florida Champion Kapok, that has been forever humbled bt Ari's specimen taken in Singapore:

Resized to 46% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

This is another view from across Whitehall:

Resized to 46% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge

"Be kind, for everyone you encounter is fighting a great battle."

OOPS no pictures :-(

[bubba]

Sorry about that. This topic and Fastfeat bring up an interesting point. What is a Kapok? Obviously, the monument denominates Bombax malabaricum as a Kapok (hence the "Kapok Tree Restaurant")but the State Inspector who awarded the below pictured tree as the State Champion Kapok referred to it as Ceiba pentandra. Which is the Kapok tree or are they one and the same:

[tropicbreeze]

Kapok is a cotton-like substance used for padding, pillows and the like. There are a number of plants that have seed pods with kapok inside so they're often referred to as kapok. We have the Kapok Tree, Bombax ceiba, then there's Kapok Bush, Cochlospermum fraseri. Although in different families and unrelated, they both have similar seed pods full of kapok. There's no doubt a lot of others that fall into the same boat.

[fastfeat]

Bubba--

As you can see, "common" names aren't necessarily common for everyone!

Overgeneralizing perhaps here, what most people in Florida call "Kapok Tree" is Ceiba pentandra, which is (probably) the tree you have pictured above. It typically has that distinctive buttressed trunk and relatively small, creamy-white flowers.

The tree is my pictures (Bombax ceiba (B. malabaricum) is more commonly called "Red Silk Cotton" rather than "Kapok". The nice plaque does contribute much to the confusion, agreed. Perhaps "Red Silk Cotton Tree Restaurant" didn't sound as cool...

[bubba]

Fastfeat, Thank you for the clarification. The tree I pictured is definitely Ceiba pentandra. Ari pictured one in Singapore that makes this thing look dainty.

Got to agree with you about the "Red Silk Cotton Kapok tree Restaurant". I remember the Kapok Tree. That was old Florida.