Bombax ceiba (Silk Cotton Tree)

English Common Name(s): Silk Cotton Tree

Hindi Name(s): सेमल

Botanical Name: Bombax ceiba L.

Synonyms: Bombacopsis quinata Dugand, Bombax quinatum Jacq., Bombax malabaricum DC., Pachira quinata W.S.Alverson, Pochota quinata W.D.Stevens

Family: Malvaceae

Distribution: Tropical & Subtropical Asia to Northern Australia.

Uses: The seed floss is used as a stuffing material for pillows, cushions, and similar items. A gum called Mocha-ras, extracted from this tree, is used as an aphrodisiac. Both the bark and root have emetic properties. The wood is very soft and perishable, used in planking, packing cases, tea boxes, toys, scabbards, fishing floats, coffins, and lining of wells [1] [2].

Bombax ceiba (Silk Cotton Tree)

A deciduous tree with a spreading crown; it can grow up to a height of 25 m or more. The straight, cylindrical bole is usually very spiny on young trees, it has prominent buttresses. Leaves palmate with 5-7 leaflets, which are oblong to oblong-lanceolate. Flowers solitary, terminal, bright red, ca. 10 cm in diam. Fruit ellipsoid, densely grey-white villous and stellate puberulent.

Flowering & Fruiting: January-May.

Etymology: The genus name “Bombax” originates from the Greek word bombyx, meaning silk, referring to the silky hairs surrounding the seeds. The Latin bombyx (genitive bycis) also means silk-worm, silk, or any fine fiber [11]. The specific epithet “ceiba” is Latinized version of the South American name for the silk cotton tree.