Kapok (Ceiba pentandra)
Baobab Family, BOMBACACEAE
Probably few people in California have ever heard of kapok, Ceiba pentandra, a member of the baobab family (Bombacaceae). This is a tree of neotropical forests with palmately compound, alternate leaves, and it produces large capsules that contain a very fine fiber as hairs growing from inside the fruit wall. Therefore, this commercial fiber is botanically somewhat similar to cotton (Gossypium), and, to be sure, they belong to closely related families, but cotton can be woven into cloth, whereas kapok has been used mainly as stuffing, as in life jackets, pillows, and mattresses and is not manufactured as thread or fabric. Kapok was also widely used in bases for baseball. During World War II, U.S. sailors often referred to the life jacket as "kapok." At least since World War II, synthetic fibers have pretty much replaced any traditional uses of kapok.