Ask Margaret
by Margaret Word Burnside
Surprisingly, the answer is probably
none. The well-known Kapok trees
in the Tampa Bay area are actually
Bombax, not Kapok trees. Our two
most notable are at the former Kapok
Tree Restaurant, now the Sam Ash
Music Center and Kapok Special
Event Center in Clearwater, and at the
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg.
The misidentified tree at 923 N.
McMullen Booth Road in Clearwater
was the inspiration for the name of
that first Kapok Tree Restaurant, as
well as the ones in Madeira Beach
and Ft. Lauderdale. The Clearwater tree’s notoriety still
brings onlookers from around the world. When the two-lane
McMullen Booth Road was widened, the front portion of
the Savoy, the Kapok Tree Restaurant’s upscale sister dining
destination across the street, was sacrificed in order to protect
the large, landmark namesake tree.
The so-called Kapok tree to the south of the Museum of
Fine Arts at 255 Beach Drive N.E. in St. Petersburg is another
important gift of nature. It is a popular destination for
photographers, young tree climbers and those who want to
relax on a limb, or just admire its beauty.
Bombax trees can be correctly referred to as Indian Bombax,
Cotton, Red Cotton, Red Silk Cotton and in India as Simal trees,
but not accurately as Kapoks. Kapok trees are also known as
Java Cotton, Java Kapok, Silk Cotton or Ceiba, but seldom if
ever as Bombax trees.
Our Tampa Bay area Bombax trees will probably continue
to be referred to as Kapok trees, even by those of us who know
the difference. In defense of the confusing nomenclature, both
Bombax and Kapok trees originally were botanically grouped
under the same family name of Bombacaeae before the Kapok’s
was changed to Malvaceae.
There are several similarities between Bombax and Kapok
trees. They are both massive, fast-growing, deciduous, tropical
and subtropical trees with trunks that can measure up to 10
feet in diameter. The trunks and some larger branches of the
Bombax, and occasionally the Kapok, are covered with short,
sharp spikes for protection from animals, which nonetheless
often dwell within the protection of both trees’ branches.
140 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | JULY/AUGUST 2017
Bombax and Kapok trees shed their
palmate-shaped leaves during the dry
season before becoming covered with
and later by new leaves.
Although there are several similarities
between the two varieties of trees, the
differences set them apart. Bombax
trees are native to Southeastern and
Central America or from Mexico.
Mature Bombax trees, which can grow to over 100 feet tall,
have symmetrical, evenly spaced branches. Kapok trees on the
other hand, can reach heights of over 200 feet, have widely
spread, horizontally tiered branches and umbrella-shaped tops.
The roots of Kapok, but not Bombax trees, form flat, vertical,
far-reaching, stabilizing buttresses.
The softness of the Bombax’s wood limits its use to products
such as plywood, boxes and sticks of matches. Conversely,
the strength, straight grains, long length and attractive light
pinkish white to ashy brown color of the Kapok’s wood makes
it desirable for a myriad of uses.
The large, stunning red flowers that continue to draw the
admiration of locals and visitors alike each spring are the most
obvious way to tell the trees apart. If the blooms are red, reddish
orange or orange, it is a Bombax tree. If the blooms come out
in clusters during the night in shades of creamy white or pale
pink, it is a Kapok tree. The only blossom color crossover is
yellow, which although normally found on Bombax trees, may
occasionally appear on a Kapok tree.
In addition, blossoms that have an unpleasant odor, no
matter what the color, are the products of Kapok, not Bombax
trees, so it is probably fortunate that the trees adjacent to the
former Kapok Tree Restaurant and the flourishing Museum of
Fine Arts are not actually Kapoks after all. Even so, the Kapok
odor, while offensive to humans, attracts the fruit bats and
honeybees that are needed for the tree’s pollination.
The fruit produced by Bombax and Kapok trees varies as
well. The Bombax’s is encased in husks the size of small balls,
while the Kapok’s is contained in elongated, light green pods.
How many Kapok
trees are there in the
Tampa Bay area?
B.M., Clearwater
large, dramatic, five-petaled blossoms.
These eventually fall to the ground,
only to be replaced by encrusted fruit
Eastern Asia and to Northern Australia,
while Kapok trees come from South and