Dictionary Definition
Ceiba n : tropical American trees with palmately
compound leaves and showy bell-shaped flowers [syn: genus
Ceiba]
Extensive Definition
Ceiba is the name of a genus of many species of
large trees found in
tropical areas, including Mexico, Central
and South
America, The Bahamas,
Belize and
the Caribbean,
West
Africa, and Southeast
Asia. Some species can grow to 70 meters tall or more, with a
straight, largely branchless trunk that culminates in a huge,
spreading canopy, and "buttress" roots that can be taller than a
grown person. The best-known, and most widely cultivated, species
is Kapok,
Ceiba pentandra.
Recent botanical opinion incorporates Chorisia
within Ceiba, raising the number of species from 10 to 20 or more,
and puts the genus as a whole within the family Malvaceae.
Ceiba species are used as food plants by the
larvae of some Lepidoptera
(butterfly and
moth) species including the
leaf-miner Bucculatrix
ceibae which feeds exclusively on the genus.
In culture, history
The tree figures in the mythologies of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, in particular that of the Maya civilization, where the concept of the central world tree is often depicted as a ceiba trunk, which connects the planes of the Underworld (Xibalba), the skies and the terrestrial realm.The Honduran city of
La Ceiba
was named after a particular ceiba tree that grew down by the old
docks. The Puerto Rican
town of Ceiba
is also named after this tree. Ceiba is also the national tree of
both Guatemala and
Puerto Rico.
In 1525, Spanish Conquistador
Hernán
Cortés ordered the hanging of Aztec emperor
Cuauhtemoc
from a Ceiba tree after overtaking his empire.
In 1898, the Spanish army in Cuba surrendered to
the United States under a ceiba, which was named the Tree of Peace
(Arbol de la Paz), outside of Santiago de Cuba.
Ceibo
Ceiba should not be confused with the vernacular name ceibo (Erythrina crista-galli), the national tree of Argentina and Uruguay.See also
External links
References
Ceiba in Danish: Kapoktræ-slægten
Ceiba in German: Ceiba
Ceiba in Spanish: Ceiba
Ceiba in French: Fromager
Ceiba in Lithuanian: Kapokmedis
Ceiba in Portuguese: Ceiba
Ceiba in Vietnamese: Chi Bông
gòn