Silk-cotton tree Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun massive tropical tree with deep ridges on its massive trunk and bearing large pods of seeds covered with silky floss; source of the silky kapok fiber
    Ceiba pentandra; God tree; Bombay ceiba; kapok; white silk-cotton tree; ceiba tree.

WordNet

Definitions
  1. (Bot.), a name for several tropical trees of the genera Bombax and Eriodendron, and belonging to the order Bombaceæ. The trees grow to an immense size, and have their seeds enveloped in a cottony substance, which is used for stuffing cushions, but can not be spun.

Webster 1913