Tuesday, May 01, 2007

The Ceiba tree (Ceiba pentanda)

While at the UDV center today I also ran into another old friend, the sumaúma tree. This is a young one that Mestre Joaquim and his brotherhood planted a few years ago. It's still bright green and covered with many very sharp thorns. My ceiba trees at the Bosque are still babies but - big babies. I'll post a picture of them soon. Ceiba trees are some of the largest in the Amazon but they are an endangered species, due to the fact that they are used to make instant sheets of plywood. Pictured in the image is Mestre Joaquim. Mestre in the UDV hierarchy would be equivalent to priest or pastor.

2 comments:

Olle Pettersson said...

Hello Steven
Thanks to this post I now know what I have put out on my blog recently - a Ceiba speciosa from the botanical garden on Gran Canaria and some other Ceibas I saw on Teneriffa. Be careful with the caterpillars!

greetings
Olle
Tullinge

DrKong said...

We called Ceiba sp as "Pokok Kapok" or "Pokok Kekabu" which is in Malaysian teks. The dried fruit include a cutton kind of whorl that can be used to make a pillow.