White Silk-Cotton (শ্বেত শিমুল ফুল) - Ceiba pentandra

Bengali Name :	Shwet Shimul (শ্বেত শিমুল ফুল).
Common Name :	White Silk-Cotton, Kapok, etc.
Botanical Name :	Ceiba pentandra
Family :	Bombacaceae (Baobab family)

I didn't see this flower and the tree before. It came across while we were observing the birds from the Dhaka University area. This is mainly native to the South American region along with Mexico and Central America. But later it dispersed into few other regions. People use to cultivate this for the silk cotton. This tree is a scared tree for the ancient Mayans.

English name of this plant is White Silk Cotton. Botanical name is Ceiba pentandra and it pertains to the family Bombacaceae. The Bengali name of the flower can be Shwet Shimul Ful (শ্বেত শিমুল ফুল) which is the literal translation of the English name. I don't know whether this plant is widely available in our country or not.

Shwet Shimul (শ্বেত শিমুল) is a very very tall growing plant that can reach up to 200 feet in height. In rainforest at South America, this plant uses to be on top of its nearby trees. The cylinder shaped trunk is a straight one and the diameter can be around 3 meter (huge one). The base of the tree is much wider than the trunk which helps to hold the whole tree. Sometimes the diameter of the base can reach up to 10 meter.

White Silk-Cotton leafs are palmate and compound. Flower are creamy white in color. It has five petals which are hard similar to the other silk cotton flowers. It has five stamens and a single stigma at the middle. Flowers blooms as a cluster. Blooming season is mainly the winter. Flowers are full with nectar that lure lot of small birds and insects which feed on nectar.

Being a tall tree and having lot of wide branches, this is a great hideout for numerous birds along with few animals.

A Coppersmith barbet bird on a branch of the Kapok tree.

White silk cotton fruit.

White silk cotton fruit.

White silk after out from the fruit.

White silk after out from the fruit.

White silk after out from the fruit.

Palmate leaf of the plant.

Palmate leaf of the plant.

Photos of this article were taken from Dhaka. It was just beside the Shohid Minar (শহীদ মিনার), and the day was the first day of Spring as per Bengali calender. Exact date was February 13, 2015.


This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icwow.blogspot.com/