Introduction
Today, I’ve learned about the giant kapok tree, also known as silk cotton. Enjoy the post!
Kapoks
This tree towers over other jungle plants, growing up to 13 feet each year. Some giant kapoks are 200 feet tall and can have a 30 feet diameter (the distance across the center a circle.)
This massive tree also acts as a habitat: bromeliads, birds and frogs call it home.
The pink and white flowers of the kapoks attract bats, who feast on the nectar. Pollen sticks to the bat, which goes to another silk cotton and pollinates it.
Now, the kapok’s flowers grow into fruits. Five hundred to four thousand fruits can be produced at a time, each containing two hundred seeds! These seeds are fluffy, allowing the wind to easily catch them. This is why the kapok is normally the first to colonise empty spaces in the jungle.
Closing Thoughts
I was surprised to learn that bats are pollinators because I always thought it was just insects and some birds that pollinated plants.