Featured image credit: Mauroguanandi
If you gave your three-year-old a box of crayons and told them to make up a tree, it might look a little like the floss silk tree. Appearing like flora from an alien world, the floss silk tree is characterized by its prickly trunk, cotton-bearing seedpods, and bountiful blossoms of pink or white. Easily one of the strangest examples of popular plant life in Los Angeles, it even gives the jacaranda a run for its money when it comes to peculiar beauty. But is the floss silk tree the right choice to boost your curb appeal?
Where Can You Grow the Floss Silk Tree?
Like so many of LA’s distinctive trees including jacarandas, eucalyptus trees, and even several species of palm trees, the floss silk tree is a transplant. It originates from the subtropical jungles of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay where it likely wouldn’t turn quite as many heads.
Pretty much any subtropical region can successfully host flossies, making them popular options for beautification around the southern United States and Southern California. You’re also likely to find them growing in cityscapes across South Africa, Australia, and parts of New Zealand. Gardeners will recognize that these trees thrive in Sunset Climate Zones 12 through 24. If that’s Greek to you, then just rest assured that the arid heat of Los Angeles is the perfect climate for floss silk trees.
Growing Pains
Just because you can grow a floss silk tree in your yard doesn’t necessarily mean you should. It’s important to note that these trees can get quite large… up to 60 feet tall and 30 feet wide. Perhaps even more importantly, their vast and wide-spreading root system can damage nearby sidewalks and even home foundations. So, a decent amount of planning needs to go into determining the right spot for your flossy.
But if you’re fully on board the floss silk train, you’ll need an area that gets uninterrupted sunshine where you can plant the tree in well-draining soil. Again, this tree will spread out a great deal as it grows so right beside your home is not an ideal spot. These drought-tolerant trees don’t need much water. Though they adore the heat, mature trees can also endure occasionally cooler temperatures as low as 27°F. Younger trees will struggle in these chilly temperatures though.
Once your floss silk tree starts to grow, stand back! They go through rapid growth spurts, averaging up to three feet annually, though they tend to slow their growth rate once they hit around 30 feet. You shouldn’t expect the first flowering stage for about eight to 10 years. But when it does bloom, you’re in for a treat.
The Two Types of Floss Silk Trees
Before we go further into the blossoming phase of the floss silk tree, we should note that there are two species from which to choose. Easily the most popular of the two is the pink floss silk tree (Ceiba speciosa, though it was formerly categorized as Chorisia speciosa). These tend to produce flowers that range from light pink to dark burgundy. The more understated of the two is the white floss silk tree (Ceiba insignis, formerly known as Chorisia insignis). Producing flowers that range from creamy white to a frosted yellow, this species also tends to be shorter than its pink relation.
The Spectacular Blossoming Phase
For a good portion of the year, floss silk trees are rather modest in appearance with large leaves that protrude into three- to five-inch-long leaflets. But toward the end of the summer or the early autumn, these leaves drop off to make way for the flossy’s alluring bloom. By dropping these leaves, the floss silk tree can concentrate the brunt of its energy on producing its impressive flowering stage.
Mature floss silk trees produce full canopies consisting of five- to six-inch-wide exotically star-shaped blossoms in vibrant pink or understated white, depending on the species. Blooms can trigger as early as the midsummer months and last well into the winter. LA’s dry winters (compared to most regions’) and hot summers create the perfect environment for heavy flowering in the floss silk tree. And once a tree blooms for the first time, it generally comes back fuller and more spectacular with every year.
The Odd Cotton Phase
But the floss silk tree isn’t through with its dazzling spectacle when the blossoms start to drop. At this point, it begins to grow green seedpods that measure about eight inches, hanging like fruit from their otherwise stripped branches. When these pods begin to turn a brownish color and dry out, they burst open to reveal a white, gauzy, cotton-like substance. While not as high quality as the cotton produced by cotton plants, these floss silk tree fibers have been used in textiles including pillow and parka stuffing.
If you look closely at this cotton, you’ll notice tiny seeds woven into the fiber. Strong breezes carry away the gauzy material, distributing the seeds in the process. Most often, you’ll find that the seedpods sprout in the winter but don’t burst with their fluffy cotton contents until springtime.
A Thorny Subject
Still don’t think the floss silk tree has secured the title of strangest botanical wonder in LA? Then hold onto your branches… but make sure you’re wearing some protective gloves. Because the floss silk tree is absolutely covered in fearsome thorns that protrude from the trunk and branches, culminating in sharpened spikes.
Botanists still debate the reason for these robust thorns. Some posit that they developed as a defense mechanism to ward off monkeys from eating their flower buds in their native South America. Yet, many species of monkeys would be able to easily avoid the thorns by simply swinging from neighboring trees. While experts tend to agree that the spikes are defensive in nature, what inspired this defense mechanism remains a mystery.
Is a Flossy Right for You?
Could your yard benefit from a rosy tree that brandishes thorns and sprouts cotton? The floss silk tree isn’t for everyone. But if you want to make a big impression (and have an even bigger space to work with), few trees produce such spectacular results with so little maintenance. Just watch out for those spikes!
