JAMAICA. 



BULLETIN 



OF THK 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Vol. V. APRIL & MAY, 1907. Parts 4 & 5. 



SOME PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE SILK-COTTON 

 TREE iCEIBA PENTANDRA).* 



With remarks on the early Records of its occurrence in America. B , 

 By Marshall A. Howe. 



A northern visitor in the West Indian islands naturally meets 

 with many trees that are strangers to him and of these the silk-* 

 cotton tree [Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gartn. — Eriodendron anfractuosum, 

 DC] is one of the most interesting and imposing. In point of size 

 and in other peculiarities the tree is so striking that it has fre- 

 quently been made the subject of illustration in popular magazines 

 and travellers' guides, and occasionally also in botanical treatises, 

 but at this time of increasing public interest in trees, it is hoped 

 that the remarkable characters of the Ceiba are sufficient to justify 

 the publication of a few more photographs for the benefit of such 

 readers of Torreya as have not yet enjoyed the privilege of seeing 

 the tree itself. 



Ceiba pentandra is a member of the family Bombacaceae which 

 is closely allied to the Malvaceae, the family to which belong the 

 plants producing the ordinary cotton of commerce. The seeds of 

 the Ceiba are covered with a soft silky fibre which is used for stuff- 

 ing pillows, cushions, and mattresses. This " floss" is rather too 

 short for weaving, but it possesses an elasticity which adapts it 

 well for use in upholstery. From the East Indies, where also the 

 trees occur, large quantities of this floss are exported to Europe 

 and America under the Malayan name " kapok," though the fibre 

 of Bombax malabaricum and perhaps of other Bombacaceous trees 

 is sometimes included under the same trade-name. According to 

 Cook and Collins, t " kapok" from Ceiba pentandra and related 

 species is an article of export from the west coast of Africa also. 



Perhaps the most impressive feature of the Ceiba, apart from its 



general size and massiveness, is its development, with increasing 



age, of peculiar wing-like buttresses at the base of its trunk. 



These buttresses may reach out to a distance of twelve or fifteen 



feet from the main body of the trunk and may have an altitude of 



from two to twelve feet, while maintaining an almost uniform 



Nthickness of only a few inches. The butti esses in a well-developed 

 O 



CTi 



' — ■ Reprinted from Torreya 6 : 217-231. November, 1906. 



I t Economic Plants of Porto Rico. Contrib. U.S. Nat. Herb. 8: III. 1903. 



CD 



