Bitterroot Restoration

Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Common name: Swet shimul, Kapok(Beng.); White silk-cotton tree(Eng.).
Life cycle: Perennial
Native Range: Native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and (as the variety C. pentandra var. guineensis) to tropical west Africa.

Ceiba pentandra (Kapok) is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae. The tree grows to 60-70 m (200-230 ft) tall and has a very substantial trunk up to 3 m (10 ft) in diameter with buttresses. Their trunk and many of the larger branches are often (but not always) crowded with very large, robust simple thorns. Their leaves are compound of 5 to 9 leaflets, each up to 20 cm (8 in) and palm like. Adult trees produce several hundred 15 cm (6 in) seed pods.

Ceiba pentandra bark decoction has been used as a diuretic, aphrodisiac, and to treat headache, as well as type II diabetes. It is used as an additive to some versions of the hallucinogenic drink Ayahuasca.