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Ceiba (includes Chorisia) is the name of a genus of many species of large tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s found in tropical areas, including Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, Central
Central America

Central America is a central geography region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmus portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast....
 and South America
South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
, The Bahamas
The Bahamas

The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an independent, sovereign, English language-speaking country consisting of two thousand cays and seven hundred islands that form an archipelago....
, Belize
Belize

Belize , formerly British Honduras, is a country in Central America. Once part of the Maya civilization, and very briefly the Spanish Empire, it was most recently affiliated with the British Empire, prior to gaining its independence in 1981....
 and the Caribbean
Caribbean

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America....
, West Africa
West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of approximately 5 million square km:...
, and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India and north of Australia....
. Some species can grow to 70 meters tall or more, with a straight, largely branchless trunk that culminates in a huge, spreading canopy, and buttress root
Buttress root

Buttress roots are large roots on all sides of a tall or shallowly rooted tree. Typically they are found in rainforests where soils are poor so roots don't go deep....
s that can be taller than a grown person. The best-known, and most widely cultivated, species is Kapok
Kapok

Kapok is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae , native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and to tropical west Africa....
, Ceiba pentandra.

Recent botanical opinion incorporates Chorisia within Ceiba, raising the number of species from 10 to 20 or more, and puts the genus as a whole within the family Malvaceae
Malvaceae

Malvaceae, or the mallow family, is a family of flowering plants containing over 200 genera with close to 2,300 species. Judd & al. The largest genera in terms of number of species include Hibiscus , Sterculia , Dombeya , Pavonia and Sida ....
.

Ceiba species are used as food plants by the larva
Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
e of some Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
 (butterfly
Butterfly

A butterfly is an insect of the Order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera, butterflies are notable for their unusual Biological life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage, and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form....
 and moth
Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
) species including the leaf-miner Bucculatrix ceibae
Bucculatricidae

Bucculatricidae or is a family of moths. This small family has representatives in all parts of the world. Some authors place the group as a subfamily of the family Lyonetiidae....
 which feeds exclusively on the genus.

tree figures in the mythologies of pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian

The pre-Columbian era incorporates all archaeology of the Americas in the history of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the Americas continents....
 Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica or Meso-America is a region and cultural area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua, within which a number of pre-Columbian society flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries....
n cultures, in particular that of the Maya civilization, where the concept of the central world tree is often depicted as a ceiba trunk, which connects the planes of the Underworld (Xibalba
Xibalba

In Maya mythology Xibalba , roughly translated as "Place of fear", is the name of the underworld, ruled by Mayan spirits of disease and death. In the 16th-century Verapaz, the entrance to Xibalba was traditionally held to be a cave in the vicinity of Cob?n, Guatemala....
), the skies and the terrestrial realm.

The Honduran
Honduras

Honduras is a democratic republic in Central America. It was formerly known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras ....
 city of La Ceiba
La Ceiba

La Ceiba is a port city on the northern coast of Honduras in Central America. It is located on the southern edge of the Caribbean Sea forming part of the south eastern boundary of the Gulf of Honduras....
 was named after a particular ceiba tree that grew down by the old docks.






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Ceiba (includes Chorisia) is the name of a genus of many species of large tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s found in tropical areas, including Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, Central
Central America

Central America is a central geography region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmus portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast....
 and South America
South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
, The Bahamas
The Bahamas

The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an independent, sovereign, English language-speaking country consisting of two thousand cays and seven hundred islands that form an archipelago....
, Belize
Belize

Belize , formerly British Honduras, is a country in Central America. Once part of the Maya civilization, and very briefly the Spanish Empire, it was most recently affiliated with the British Empire, prior to gaining its independence in 1981....
 and the Caribbean
Caribbean

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America....
, West Africa
West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of approximately 5 million square km:...
, and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India and north of Australia....
. Some species can grow to 70 meters tall or more, with a straight, largely branchless trunk that culminates in a huge, spreading canopy, and buttress root
Buttress root

Buttress roots are large roots on all sides of a tall or shallowly rooted tree. Typically they are found in rainforests where soils are poor so roots don't go deep....
s that can be taller than a grown person. The best-known, and most widely cultivated, species is Kapok
Kapok

Kapok is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae , native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and to tropical west Africa....
, Ceiba pentandra.

Recent botanical opinion incorporates Chorisia within Ceiba, raising the number of species from 10 to 20 or more, and puts the genus as a whole within the family Malvaceae
Malvaceae

Malvaceae, or the mallow family, is a family of flowering plants containing over 200 genera with close to 2,300 species. Judd & al. The largest genera in terms of number of species include Hibiscus , Sterculia , Dombeya , Pavonia and Sida ....
.

Ceiba species are used as food plants by the larva
Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
e of some Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
 (butterfly
Butterfly

A butterfly is an insect of the Order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera, butterflies are notable for their unusual Biological life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage, and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form....
 and moth
Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
) species including the leaf-miner Bucculatrix ceibae
Bucculatricidae

Bucculatricidae or is a family of moths. This small family has representatives in all parts of the world. Some authors place the group as a subfamily of the family Lyonetiidae....
 which feeds exclusively on the genus.

In culture, history

The tree figures in the mythologies of pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian

The pre-Columbian era incorporates all archaeology of the Americas in the history of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the Americas continents....
 Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica or Meso-America is a region and cultural area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua, within which a number of pre-Columbian society flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries....
n cultures, in particular that of the Maya civilization, where the concept of the central world tree is often depicted as a ceiba trunk, which connects the planes of the Underworld (Xibalba
Xibalba

In Maya mythology Xibalba , roughly translated as "Place of fear", is the name of the underworld, ruled by Mayan spirits of disease and death. In the 16th-century Verapaz, the entrance to Xibalba was traditionally held to be a cave in the vicinity of Cob?n, Guatemala....
), the skies and the terrestrial realm.

The Honduran
Honduras

Honduras is a democratic republic in Central America. It was formerly known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras ....
 city of La Ceiba
La Ceiba

La Ceiba is a port city on the northern coast of Honduras in Central America. It is located on the southern edge of the Caribbean Sea forming part of the south eastern boundary of the Gulf of Honduras....
 was named after a particular ceiba tree that grew down by the old docks. The Puerto Rican
Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is a Autonomy Territories of the United States of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands....
 town of Ceiba
Ceiba, Puerto Rico

Ceiba is a small town in northeast Puerto Rico. It is named after the famous Ceiba tree. Ceiba is located in the east coast of the island, bordering the Atlantic Ocean, north of Naguabo, Puerto Rico, south of Fajardo, Puerto Rico, and east of R?o Grande, Puerto Rico....
 is also named after this tree. Ceiba is also the national tree of both Guatemala
Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize and the Caribbean to the northeast, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast....
 and Puerto Rico.

In 1525, Spanish
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 Conquistador Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés

Hern?n Cort?s de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marqu?s del Valle de Oaxaca was a Spain conquistador who led an expedition that caused the conquest of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the Crown of Castile, in the early 16th century....
 ordered the hanging
Hanging

Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", although it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain "hanging"....
 of Aztec
Aztec

Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl and who achieved political and military dominance over large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the Late post-Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology....
 emperor Cuauhtemoc
Cuauhtémoc

Cuauht?moc was the Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521. The name Cuauhtemoc means "One That Has Descended Like an Eagle" in Nahuatl language ? commonly rendered in English as "Falling Eagle" ? and wrong was ....
 from a Ceiba tree after overtaking his empire.

In 1898, the Spanish army in Cuba surrendered to the United States under a ceiba, which was named the Tree of Peace (Arbol de la Paz), outside of Santiago de Cuba.

Ceiba insignis and Ceiba speciosa are added to some versions of the hallucinogenic drink Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, usually mixed with the leaves of the Psychotria bush....
.

Ceiba


Ceiba should not be confused with the vernacular name ceibo (Erythrina crista-galli
Erythrina crista-galli

Erythrina crista-galli is a flowering tree in the family Fabaceae, native to Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay. It is widely planted as a street or garden tree in other countries, most notably in California ....
), the national tree of Argentina
Argentina

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is a country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city....
 and Uruguay
Uruguay

Uruguay is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.46 million people, of whom 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area....
.

See also

  • Mesoamerican world tree
  • Desert Garden Conservatory
    Desert Garden Conservatory

    The Desert Garden Conservatory is a large botanical greenhouse in The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, California....


External links

  • in Ecuador (website in spanish)