This stately and gnarled tree twists and turns its way around the garden outside the Museum of Fine arts in St Petersburg, Florida. It attracts plenty of tourist attention because of its unusual spreading shape and its beautiful red flowers.
It is a Kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra), a veritable giant that can reach a height of 200 feet in the rainforest. It is not just beautiful, it has many uses for us humans. The obvious is the light and fluffy seed material that stuffs many a cushion on this planet. The seeds themselves produce an oil that is used in soap and its wood is also of use: light and porous it is perfect for coffins apparently.
Linked to Tagged K, Outdoor Weds, ABC Weds and Alphabe Thursday.
Travel with Intent 
Reminds me of a Cardinal in a tree.
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Mum used to make Kapok mattresses and pillows.
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Beautiful flowers. The tree looks like it wishes it was back in the rainforest.
The View from the Top of the Ladder
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Yes, it is a bit like that!
On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 12:07 AM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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What a strange tree !
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Beautiful photos of the kapok tree!
Happy Weekend coming to you,
artmusedog and carol
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The blossoms are such a pretty colour!
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Love how that trunk winds itself into branches and flowers! The cotton plants I saw in Texas are different…
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Yes, it really was beautiful and took me a while to work out what it was.
On Thu, Jan 29, 2015 at 3:00 AM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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That is a beautiful tree! Lovely flowers.
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Everyone was stopping to admire it
On Thu, Jan 29, 2015 at 2:45 AM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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Very cool tree….great K choice♪ http://lauriekazmierczak.com/kinds-of-black-and-white/
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so pretty, makes me long for spring…
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I remember making a cushion in school an stuffing it with Kapok stuffing. never given it a thought until I read this ! Beautiful tree with many uses…I’ve been to St Pete’s in Florida but didn’t catch sight of the tree, what a pity.
Best wishes,
Di.x
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That’s a real strange tree !
Gattina
ABC Wednesday
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beautiful reds!
ROG,. ABCW
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I don’t think I have ever seen one of these trees before
Mollyxxx
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It was certainly new to me.
On Thu, Sep 18, 2014 at 10:52 AM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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What an unusual tree and so beautiful. Thanks for telling us what the berries were used for, who would have guessed that. Interesting blog post this week. Excellent job.
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I had never stopped to think where kapok might come from!
On Wed, Sep 17, 2014 at 3:27 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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What a lovely tree!
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I went back to look at it several times, it was so beautiful
On Wed, Sep 17, 2014 at 2:42 PM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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nice to find photos from St. Petersburg, USA;
recently we had a TV-report about a man who booked himself a flight to St. Petersburg (US), but his real goal was St. Petersburg in Russia.
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Ha! Reasonable easily done if you don’t pay attention to flight times I guess!
Sent from my iPhone
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A beautiful tree and fascinating information on the Kapok tree!
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Lovely flowers on this tree
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and even more so in real life
On Tue, Sep 16, 2014 at 6:13 AM, Travel with Intent wrote:
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