Pink floss-silk tree (Ceiba speciosa) FKA (Chorisia speciosa)
This is a fast-growing tree in its juvenile stage, reaching 25 – 30 feet in less than 10 years. As they mature their growth rate slows down with older trees reaching a mature height of 60 – 80 feet or more. Young trees usually have a straight trunk and a columnar growth habit, however the branching structure will spread out with age. They have thorny trunks and branches. The thorns can remain intact or be removed without affecting the tree either way and the thorns will not grow back. They develop a mature trunk diameter of 48 inches or more and a trunk flare with large buttress roots that can be 6 feet and wider. Leaves are palmate shaped with five-inch-long leaflets. They will produce bright pink flowers anytime between mid-summer to early fall, depending on the summer temperatures for an individual year. The blooms are followed by large seed pods, which contain copious amounts of a cottony fiber. Flower production increases as the canopy gets larger. Dry winters followed by high summer temperatures tends to trigger a heavier bloom cycle for that season.
© Walter Warriner Consulting Arborist
