Kapoks of Palm Beach County

[Loxahatchee Adam]

Kapok trees, Ceiba pentandra, were one of those old Florida landmark trees planted back in the day. A number have come down from development, lightning, and hurricanes, but there definitely are some nice specimens left. The Flagler Museum Kapok is probably the most well-known tree in Palm Beach County, but there are some very noteworthy others. Missing from these pictures are a Kapok behind a private residence on Palm Beach Island, the Kapok at the Boca Beach Resort (private club), and the 2 Kapoks flanking the island side of the Okeechobee Blvd Bridge on Palm Beach. There are numerous others, but they are not of significant enough size.

The ones at my place aren't large enough to make the list yet either =)

Flagler Museum Kapok (this is the tree that got me started): Palm Beach, FL

Old Boynton High School: Boynton Beach, FL

Tree 1

Tree 2

Flamingo Park Neighborhood, West Palm Beach, FL

USDA Research Station: Canal Point, FL

USDA Research Station: Bryant, FL

Abandoned Sugar Mill Factory town of Bryant, FL

House (built 1944) off SR 80 North of Belle Glade, FL

Old Sandy Loam Farm (now apartment complex): suburban West Palm Beach, FL

Honorable mention (Bombax Ceiba: Red Kapok / Red Silk Cotton Tree) since it's down the street from me: Loxahatchee, FL

[Eric in Orlando]

Those are awesome trees. The one next to Whitehall is the Champion specimen and is magnificent.

[sur4z]

There are actually two at the private residence in Palm Beach and they were successfully moved to make way for the driveway to the house.

[buzzmonkey]

Awesome post! Those are some truly spectacular trees.

[fastfeat]

Some impressive leg work here to document these great trees! Gotta say that I hadn't seen one of these trees during the couple of years I spent living in Loxahatchee; I honestly didn't think they had much cold tolerance to take the occasional freeze in (inland) PBCo.

(Another tree that I remember being surprised to see was a large, old Spanish lime (Melicoccus bijugatus) on the south side of Okeechobee Bl around F Rd that had clearly seen some cold winters...)

Again, great job documenting these trees. Will have to go check them out when I get back...

[Yunder Wækraus]

Awesome pix!