(by Zhu Renbin, at XTBG)

Bombax ceiba, commonly known as red silk-cotton tree, is a large, spiny, deciduous tree (briefly deciduous during the flowering period) that typically matures to 60-75’ tall and to 40-60’ wide, but may soar to as much as 150’ tall in optimum growing environments. It is native to monsoon forested areas including river valleys, savannas and hillsides below 4,000’ in elevation in China and Indomalaysia in areas where soil moisture levels often change significantly during the course of a year, ranging from long periods of dry, hot and humid conditions to much shorter periods of moist to wet conditions as a result of heavy rainfall associated with monsoon activity.