The Kapok Tree
>> Senin, 18 Februari 2013
A great natural resource.
The kapok tree
is deciduous, dropping its foliage after seasonal rainy periods, thus
ridding it of damaged leaves while purging the tree of fungi,
herbivorous insects, and other organisms. This loss of leaves also
improves access for the bats that feed on the sugar-laden nectar of
kapok blossoms. In doing so, the bats unwittingly pollinate the tree's
flowers. The flowers open at night and have five petals that are white
or pink on the outside. Only a few flowers on a given branch will open
on any particular night during the two or three weeks that the tree
blooms.
Kapoks do not bloom every year, and some may go 5–10
years without flowering. When the tree does bloom, however, it is
prolific, producing up to 4,000 fruits measuring up to 15 cm (6 inches)
long. Eventually these pods open on the tree, exposing the pale kapok
fibers to the wind for dispersal. The fibers, in which over 200 seeds
are loosely embedded, are sometimes referred to as silk cotton and are yellowish brown, lightweight, and lustrous.
In harvesting of the great kapok fiber,
the pods are either cut down or gathered when they fall, then broken
open with mallets. The seed and fiber, removed from the pods by hand,
are stirred in a basket; the seeds fall to the bottom, leaving the
fibers free. The seeds may be processed to obtain oil for making soap,
and the residue is used as fertilizer and cattle feed.
Although
kapok wood does not hold screws or nails well, the timber is used for a
variety of wood products, including paper. Local peoples have long used
kapok logs for carving into canoes. The genus name of the true kapok,
Ceiba, likely derives from a Carib word for a dugout boat.
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