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kapok

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kapok

a silky fibre obtained from the hairs covering the seeds of a tropical bombacaceous tree, Ceiba pentandra (kapok tree or silk-cotton tree): used for stuffing pillows, etc., and for sound insulation
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

kapok

[′kā‚päk]
(botany)
Silky fibers that surround the seeds of the kapok or ceiba tree. Also known as ceiba; Java cotton; silk cotton.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Kapok

 

the fibers from the fruits of the ceiba plant (Ceiba pentandra), or silk-cotton tree, of the family Bambacaceae. The plant is native to tropical America; it is cultivated in the tropics, particularly in Asia. These white or brownish fibers have a length of 10–35 mm and a thickness of 0.02–0.04 mm. They are soft and form on the inner side of the husks not on the seeds. The fibers are nonwettable and do not become matted. In water, kapok is several times more durable than cork. After they are separated from the seeds and fruit parts, the fibers are dried, sorted, and compressed into bales. Kapok is used as a filling for life buoys, life jackets, furniture, mattresses, and pillows. It is also used as sound and heat insulation.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive
"The hollow kapok tree with the vine-like strangler figs going around it may be man-made, but it is life-sustaining in that it has planters in which real plants grow.
In the Kapok Clubhouse and the SHINE group, we gained knowledge about recovery and peer support; thus, we applied for the PSW position when the opportunity arose in 2012.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of glycerol and kapok husk loading on tensile and morphology of Soy Protein Isolate/ Kapok husk biofilms.
entered the war four years later, access to Asian kapok had been effectively cut off.
Huang, "Evaluation of kapok (Ceibapentandra (L.) Gaertn.) as a natural hollow hydrophobic-oleophilic fibrous sorbent for oil spill cleanup," Chemosphere, vol.
Scientists have done extensive studies on fibers such as barley straw, kapok, polypropylene wool, Ramkumar said.
Rather than the allergy-free synthetic options available at the local big box store, opt for organic latex or organic kapok pillows from companies like Savvy Rest and CozyPure.
This book begins with a man who has tired while chopping down a huge kapok tree and decides to lies down to rest at the foot of the tree.
Its best price point has been $500 or less, with kapok or cotton fill, including new poufs it has collaborated on with Missoni.
In this work, we have made an attempt to collect red pigments from Tradescantia zebrina, kapok, and pitaya, as these plants are abundant in Hainan, the tropical island of China.
An Indian with limited foreign language skills invariably finds it challenging to communicate to a birder that "the toucan is in the tallest cecropia tree, 3 feet in at 2 o'clock" - especially when his client could be from any country in the world and likely doesn't know a cecropia from a kapok. But even a colorblind, myopic observer can spot the laser light directed at the feet of a bird.
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