Flowering · Giant · Medicinal
Red Silk-cotton Tree
Bombax ceiba L.
Tropical Asia to northern Australia
Fun factAccording to Chinese historical records, the King of Nam Yuet, Chiu To, sent a red silk-cotton tree as a gift to the emperor of the Han Dynasty in the 2nd century BC.
A large deciduous tree of the monsoon forests of tropical Asia, with a straight, buttressed trunk that carries stout conical prickles when young and branches set in level tiers. In the dry season it drops its leaves and covers the bare branches with large, thick-petalled red flowers, rich in nectar and visited by birds, bats and bees. Pointed capsules follow and split to release white silky floss that carries the seeds away on the wind.
Sourced · see Record tab
1on the estate
0carrying a tag
0sponsored
FamilyMalvaceae
Also known asSilk-cotton tree, Red cotton tree, Kapok tree, Semal
Native toNative from Pakistan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka through southern China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and northern Australia; introduced in parts of the Caribbean, Nicaragua, Guyana and northern Brazil.
| Tag | Garden area | Zone | Planted | Status | Sponsored | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | A | — | Planted | — | Bought and planted a few years ago; flowers red on bare branches in January. Not yet tagged. Reported by Dandapani 2026-10-28. |
1 of these has no tag yet; it will be numbered when the garden team re-tags the estate.