Bombax Ceiba
Family : Bombacaceae
Common Name : Silk Cotton Tree, Kapok Tree
English Name : Silk Cotton Tree, Kapok Tree
Hindi Name : Shalmali, Semal
Telugu Name : Buruga
Tree Characteristics :
Silk cotton tree is a type of native cotton tree with large red flowers. Silk cotton trees comprise eight species in the genus Bombax, native to India, tropical southern Asia, northern Australia and tropical Africa. Semul trees bear beautiful red-colored flowers during January to March. The phenomenon paints the whole landscape in an enchanting red hue. The fruit, the size of a ping-pong ball, on maturity appears during March and April. Semul is quite a fast growing tree and can attain a girth of 2 to 3 m, and height about 30 m, in nearly 50 years or so. Good growth of this species is obtained in deep alluvial soils having a considerable portion of sand and good moisture supply.
Nursery Practice :
Knock off the mature capsules just before they are about to open. Pods are dried under the sun until they burst. Care should be taken to prevent the seeds from being blown away. Seeds are separated from the floss by churning in a drum using a locally made churn stick. The seeds are sown in May in primary beds in lines, 15 cms a part. When seedlings attain 5 cms height, they are pricked out into the polythene bags. Seedlings are planted out in July August in 30cm 3 pits. Fresh seeds do not require any pretreatment. No. of seeds per kg is 21,430 to 38,500; Germination percentage is about 14 to 75 and the Period of Germination 10 to 25 days.
Economic Use:
It is one of the first trees to appear on alluvial ground. The inner bark yields a good fibre suitable for cordage. Fruit yield cotton. Floss from fruits and seeds used for stuffing pillows and mattresses.
It is easy to work but not durable anywhere other than under water. So it is popular for construction work, but is very good and prized for manufacture of plywood, match boxes and sticks, scabbards, patterns, moulds, etc. Also for making canoes and light duty boats and or other structures required under water.
