Ceiba: Difference between revisions

|authority = [[Philip Miller|Mill.]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?2218 |title=''Ceiba'' Mill. |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |date=2003-06-05 |access-date=2009-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090507011237/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?2218# |archive-date=2009-05-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

|subdivision = 18 species19, see text

'''''Ceiba''''' is a [[genus]] of [[tree]]s in the family [[Malvaceae]], native to [[Tropics|tropical]] and [[Subtropics|subtropical]] areas of the [[Americas]] (from [[Mexico]] and the [[Caribbean]] to Nnorthern [[Argentina]]) and tropical [[West Africa]].<ref name=":0" /> Some species can grow to {{convert|70|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall or more, with a straight, largely branchless trunk that culminates in a huge, spreading canopy, and [[buttress root]]s that can be taller than a grown person. The best-known, and most widely cultivated, species is Kapok, ''[[Ceiba pentandra]]'', one of [[Kapok (disambiguation)|several trees calledknown as ''kapok'']]. ''Ceiba'' is a word from the [[KapokTaíno tree|kapoklanguage]] meaning "boat" because Taínos use the wood to build their [[dugout canoe]]s.<ref name="EIA">{{Cite web |url=http://recursosbiologicos.eia.edu.co/ecologia/estudiantes/ceiba.htm |language=es|author=María Elena Gutiérrez L.|title=En Recursos Biológicos|publisher=Escuela de Ingeniería de Antioquía, Colombia |access-date=22 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402110345/http://recursosbiologicos.eia.edu.co/ecologia/estudiantes/ceiba.htm |archive-date=2 April 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.conabio.gob.mx/conocimiento/info_especies/arboles/doctos/14-bomba5m.PDF|title=Ceiba pentandra|page=65|publisher= [[Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad]] |language=es|accessdate=4 October 2022}}</ref>

Modern Maya still often respectfully leave the tree standing when harvesting forest timber.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8083000/8083812.stm (BBC Earth News) "Sacred plants of the Maya forest", 5 June 2009] accessed 6 June 2009. ''[[Pachira aquatica]]'' and ''[[Pseudobombax ellipticum]]'' are also represented in the designs of similar ceramics.</ref> The Ceiba tree is represented by a cross and serves as an important architectural motif in the [[Temple of the Cross Complex]] at [[Palenque]].<ref>{{cite bookjournal |authorlast1=Houston |first1=[[Stephen D. Houston|Houston, author-link=Stephen]] (1996)D. Houston |title=Symbolic Sweatbaths of the Maya: Architectural Meaning in the Cross Group at Palenque, Mexico. ''|journal=Latin American Antiquity'', |date=June 1996 |volume=7( |issue=2), pp.|pages=132–151 132-151|doi=10.2307/971614|jstor=971614 }}</ref>

[[Parque_de_la_CeibaParque de la Ceiba|Ceiba Tree Park]] is located in [[San Antón]], in [[Ponce, Puerto Rico]]. Its centerpiece is the historic Ceiba de Ponce, a 500-year-old ''[[Ceiba pentandra]]'' tree associated with the founding of the city.<ref>[http://www.periodicolaperla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2849:en-intensivo-la-ceiba-de-ponce&catid=135:actualidad-del-sur&Itemid=423 ''En intensivo la venerada Ceiba de Ponce.''] Jason Rodríguez Grafal. La Perla del Sur. Ponce Puerto Rico. 19 July 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2ZswCpWD1w8C&pg=PT267 Explore Puerto Rico By Harry S. Pariser. Page 246.]</ref> In the surroundings of the legendary Ceiba de Ponce, broken pieces of indigenous pottery, shells, and stones were found to confirm the presence of Taino Indians long before the Spaniards that later settled in the area."<ref>[http://www.travelponce.com/Ceiba-de-Ponce.html ''Ceiba de Ponce.'' TravelPonce]</ref> In 1525, [[Spain|Spanish]] Conquistador [[Hernán Cortés]] ordered the [[hanging]] of [[Aztec]] emperor [[Cuauhtemoc]] from a ''Ceiba'' tree after overtaking his empire.<ref>{{citationCite web needed|last=Cultura |first=Secretaría de |title=El tormento de Cuauhtémoc, último emperador mexica |url=http://www.gob.mx/cultura/es/articulos/el-tormento-de-cuauhtemoc-ultimo-emperador-mexica?idiom=es |access-date=June2024-06-12 2019|website=gob.mx |language=es}}</ref> The town of [[Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas|Chiapa de Corzo]], [[Chiapas]], [[Mexico]] was founded in 1528 by the Spanish around La Pochota, ''Ceiba pentandra'', according to tradition. Founded in 1838, the [[Puerto Rico|Puerto Rican]] town of [[Ceiba, Puerto Rico|Ceiba]] is also named after this tree. The [[Honduras|Honduran]] city of [[La Ceiba]] founded in 1877 was named after a particular ''Ceiba'' tree that grew down by the old docks. In 1898, the Spanish Army in Cuba surrendered to the United States under a ''Ceiba'', which was named the [[Santiago Surrender Tree]], outside of [[Santiago de Cuba]].

''Ceiba'' is also the [[National emblem|national tree]] of [[Guatemala]]. The most important Ceiba in Guatemala is known as La Ceiba de Palín Escuintla which is over 400 years old. In [[Caracas]], [[Venezuela]] there is a 100-year-old ceiba tree in front of the San Francisco Church known as La Ceiba de San Francisco and is an important element in the history of the city. The towering specimen near the town of [[Sabalito]], [[Costa Rica]], is a [[Relict (biology)|relict]] tree called "la ceiba" by residents and a survivor of one of the highest terrestrial rates of tropical deforestation.<ref>[http://tupress.org/books/one-tree One Tree By Gretchen C. Daily and Charles J. Katz Jr.]</ref>

[[Pablo Antonio Cuadra]], a [[Nicaraguan]] [[poet]], wrote a chapter about the Ceiba tree. He used it as a symbol of the Nicaraguan ancestral roots, a cradle for the nation, and source {{further explanation neededexplain|date=June 2017}} during the people's exile.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Seven Trees Against the Dying Light: A Bilingual Edition|last = Cuadra|first = Pablo Antonio|publisher = Northwestern University Press|date = Oct 23, 2007|pages = xi}}</ref>

[[File:Distribución_de_especies_de_Ceiba_en_SudaméricaDistribución_de_especies_de_Ceibas.jpg |275px|thumbnail|left|]]

There are 2019 accepted species:<ref name = "potw">"''Ceiba'' Mill.". ''Plants of the World Online'', Kew Science. Accessed 2620 AugustJanuary 20212024. [httphttps://wwwpowo.science.plantsoftheworldonlinekew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30003311-2]</ref>

* ''[[Ceiba pentandra]]'' <small>([[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]) [[Joseph Gaertner|Gaertn.]]</small> Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, and northern southSouth America