Chandigarh Forest Flora
A Comprehensive Database of Ligneous Plants of Chandigarh (India)
Designed & Developed by Bioinformatics Centre, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun
| Family: Bombacaceae | Genus: Ceiba | Species:
Ceiba pentandra (Linn.)
Gaertn.
|
Habit |
Leaf |
Flower |
Fruit |
Bark |
|
|
| Synonym | Bombax cumanense Kunth, Eriodendron caribaeum G.Don | Flower Color | White |
| Common Name | Safed semal | Flower Type | Solitary |
| English / Trade Name | White silk cotton tree, True kapok, Cotton silk tree, Cotton tree, Kapok tree, Java kapok | Flowering Period | Jan-March |
| Vernacular /Local Name | Safed semal | Fruiting Period | April-June |
| Altitude | Up to 500 m | Fruit Type | Capsule |
| Habit | Tree | Fruit Details | Fruit a capsule ellipsoid to fusiform, green when young, become brown, narrowed at both ends, indehiscent or tardily dehiscing into 5 valves, seeds numerous, subpyriform, black with copious white silky fibres, testa brown to blackish |
| Habitat | Planted around the villages and roadsides. | Bark Type | Smooth |
| Distribution | Native of Africa | Bark Details | Smooth in texture and green in colour. Leafless when flowering. |
| Distribution in chandigarh | Chandigarh Botanical Garden and Nature Park, Sector 26, Sector 45, Sector 46 | Origin | Exotic |
| Leaf Type | Compound | ||
| Leaf Arrangement | Alternate (leaves born singly along stem) | ||
| Leaf Shape | Elliptic | ||
| Description of Species | Trees, up to 20 m high, buttressed at base; bark green or greenish-grey, peeling off in round bosses; exudation red, watery, sticky; branches horizontal in whorls. Leaves digitately compound, alternate, gathered towards the apex of branchlets; rachis slender, glabrous, swollen tip and base; leaflets 5-9; petiolule stout, glabrous; lamina elliptic, obovate-oblong or ovate-oblong, base acute or cuneate, apex acute or acuminate, margin entire, glabrous, chartaceous; lateral nerves 5-14 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers bisexual, creamy white, usually in clusters of 3-10, axillary or grouped towards the ends of leafless branchlets, rarely solitary, axillary; pedicels stout, glabrous; calyx green, campanulate, irregularly 4-5 lobed, coriaceous, glabrous outside, silky pubescent inside, persistent; petals 5, creamy white, obovate-spathulate, adnate to the base of staminal tube, tomentose out side except at the base pubescent near the apex inside, imbricate. Fruit a capsule ellipsoid to fusiform, green when young, become brown, narrowed at both ends, indehiscent or tardily dehiscing into 5 valves, seeds numerous, subpyriform, black with copious white silky fibres, testa brown to blackish. | Leaf Details | Leaves digitately compound, alternate, gathered towards the apex of branchlets; rachis slender, glabrous, swollen tip and base; leaflets 5-9; petiolule stout, glabrous; lamina elliptic, obovate-oblong or ovate-oblong, base acute or cuneate, apex acute or acuminate, margin entire, glabrous, chartaceous; lateral nerves 5-14 pairs, pinnate, prominent, intercostae reticulate, |
No Specimen Found
