The Kapuk comes from the tropics and is a deciduous tree up to approx. 70m high. In the first years the trunk and branches are thorny and its deep green leaves, which consist of 5-9 oval to elongated, up to 20cm long leaflets. The white to pink flowers consist of 5 petals with 5 protruding stamens and yellow anthers. Up to 20cm long, egg-shaped fruit capsules develop from them, inside of which many black seeds, embedded in gray-white 'wool', the kapok.