7. Cotton tree (aka Tree cotton)
Bombax ceiba

A Cotton tree can grow to 25 m or more in height, displaying a form (morphology) that is almost as if an architect designed how the branches would be placed around the trunk. The branches spread from the central trunk in whorls of 3 to 5 almost horizontally at intervals of about 1 a vertical metre (Thrower, 1988). The tree is deciduous and runs its biology in a very grand ostentatious way.

In normal seasons Bombax would flower in March and April (Ramsden & Ho, 1995) and do so before producing the new season’s leaves. The flowers are big. They are bisexual with male and female parts. But what makes them special is that they are bell-shaped, red with overlapping thick, heavy, fleshy petals.