A Profusion (Confusion) of Names

The Rogas tree of Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia is most likely the tree whose scientific name is Bombax Ceiba. The English name for the tree is the Silk Cotton Tree, or perhaps more clearly, the Red Silk Cotton Tree. As the pictures here illustrate, the tree is full of wonderful, fat, fleshy red to red-orange flowers, stuffed with packets of reddish stamens!

There are a number of trees that produce kapok fibers in large seed pods, the Ko Tree is the most common in Cambodia (some Cambodians refer to the Rogas tree itself as Daem Ko). The large trees at the Ta Prom temple in Siem Reap, whose enormous roots drape over and hold together this stunning temple ruin are also called the Silk Cotton tree. As is the justly famous tree found in many tropical locations, the Silk Cotton (Cieba Tree) Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn., perhaps the most famous member of the Ceiba genus.

I have yet to determine if the trees at Angkor Wat, called in most reference Silk Cotton trees, are the Red Silk Cotton that we have up here in Ratanakiri (and thus the Bombax Ceiba) or if they are the larger, more famous, and definitely more astounding Ceiba tree, though some visitors, photographers especially tend to refer to the Ta Prom trees by the Ceiba tree’s scientific name (for example).

Ceiba Pentandra itself, in some locations on the www, is called the Kapok tree (and it is said to produce higher quality kapok than does Bombax Ceiba), but expatriates in Cambodia also tend to call the Cambodian Ko Tree, Kapok, though it is surely a poor cousin of both Bombax Ceiba and the Ceiba pentandra, but a very, very prolific producer of filament seeds and seed pods.

To make things more confusing, I have found another tree in Ratanakiri, exactly the same as the Red Silk Cotton tree in every detail, except that the flowers are ivory white (yellow) in color. Some locals call it Daem Roluos, though that tree has completely different leaf and flower shapes, but grows as quickly, reaches great size at maturity, carries protective thorns on its stems while young, and produces kapok-like filaments in large seed pods as do the other trees we have been talking about!

Below is a picture taken in early Feb, 2010 of what I will call the White Silk Cotton Tree. Aside from the color of the flowers, the only difference I have learned of so far is that the flowers of the Red SKT are eaten by the Tampuon villagers, but the White are not. One man I asked said that they don't dare eat the white flowers, they may be poisonous, but mostly they are not familiar enough with the flowers to try. That makes sense to me because I have only ever seen one tree with white flowers. And until someone corrects me, I will decree that it too, will be denoted by the scientific name of it's red flowering sibling, Bombax Ceiba.