You could try emailing the pic to Huntington and ask for an id. Wild plant! Lucky you to be able to visit!
Shoot shoot shoot. We have those down here, in the south and the jungle.... I can't recall the name at the moment though. Edit - A-HA. Check out: Kapok tree - Ceiba pentandra and its relatives. It was basically leafless but had pods or large hibiscus style flowers on it, no? Now is the season when all good ceiba bloom, and they go deciduous for the occasion. Compare
The swelling of the trunk is probably abnormal, with the typical tapering stem it wouldn't appear monstrous.
Happens here in drought areas as a response to water shortage - the tree makes a bottle in its trunk to store extra.
Note that Chorisia speciosa is now treated as a synonym of Ceiba speciosa: http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?10326
No worries... And to digress into cheese a tad (sing this to the tune of "My Favourite Things" from The Sound of Music) Thorns on the kapok and fern-trees all mossy... Tall sturdy cocoa with pods smooth and glossy... Red-blooming Ceibo all covered in bees, These are a few of my favourite trees.... Vasconcella! Lovely Bixa! Andanenthra tooo! I just have to think of my favourite trees To remember why I Moved.
Lorax, my dogs loved my singing and chimed in. They thought my laughter was just tooo much and began to bark!! I loved it! Newt
This specimen was located in the jungle of western Costa Rica near the Tarcoles River. It was tall and slender. I've often wondered if the red stain (near the bottom of the photo) was left by a tourist who touched it to see if the spines were really sharp. They are!
Chinese Floss Silk tree. While we're on the subject; anyone have any clue as to how one got into the middle of the woods in Tomball, TX? Stopped me in my tracks when I found it two weeks ago. Doesn't look too thrilled to be there in heavy shade, but it's a good 20 - 30' from the ground up, with a 6 - 8" diameter trunk...
How did they come to be called Chinese? Ceiba pentandra and Ceiba speciosa (the two that take that common name) are South American natives..... DGuertin, Tomball TX is close enough to Mexico (part of the native range of C. pentandra) to be within the wind-seeding range for the odd Ceiba. Additionally, it could be a windblown escapee of a botanical garden. It wouldn't be too thrilled about full shade, but that's what stimulated it to get tall. It's far from its peak height, though, since the tree can live for hundreds of years and top 100 feet when it's happy.
The tree is from South America. I thought the name "Chinese Floss Silk" is because the material inside the seed pod looks like chinese floss silk.
Awesome tree! It's been too long since I've been to the Huntington - definitely have to get there this month. Thanks for sharing the photo!
