Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_ceiba_pentandra
Kapok Tree
Ceiba pentandra
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About Kapok Tree
Kapok Tree (Ceiba pentandra) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native from Mexico through tropical America and characteristic of tropical forest and seasonally dry forest. A 1980 forestry ledger documents Kauaʻi plantings in 1927 and 1944; the record does not establish current survival, canopy presence, or reproduction.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence. The 1918–1959 Kauaʻi reforestation working register records 65 plants under Ceiba pentandra across 2 entries dated 1927–1944. These are recorded planting quantities, not counts of surviving trees, and they do not by themselves establish current persistence, naturalization, or ecological impact. Source: Kauaʻi Reforestation Plantings 1918–1959 working register (user-supplied; reconciled 6 October 2026).
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Ceiba pentandra
- Common names
- Kapok Tree · Silk-cotton tree
- Other names
- Ceiba pentandra · Kapok tree · Silk-cotton tree
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Current survival on Kauaʻi, number of trees, occupied habitat, flowering or fruiting, recruitment, population trend, and ecological effects are all unconfirmed; no naturalization or invasive severity is inferred from the historical planting record.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Large flowers require animal pollination; dry capsules release floss-borne seeds that can move on wind. Kauaʻi flowering, pollinators, fruiting, seed dispersal, and recruitment are unknown.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Large deciduous tree
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Kapok Tree (Ceiba pentandra) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native from Mexico through tropical America and characteristic of tropical forest and seasonally dry forest. A 1980 forestry ledger documents Kauaʻi plantings in 1927 and 1944; the record does not establish current survival, canopy presence, or reproduction.