Balsa tree

This large tree with deciduous leaves can grow up to 30 m tall. Its trunk sometimes has buttress roots. It has very light wood.

Its simple, alternate leaves are heart-shaped or shallowly lobed, with 3 to 5 lobes. The leaves and the stalks each grow up to 40 cm long.

The large flowers are 12 to 15 cm long, with 5 sepals and 5 white or cream petals, partly fused into a funnel shape. They are highly fragrant.

The fruit is a woody capsule 25 cm long and 2.5 cm wide. It opens into 5 valves to release large numbers of tiny black seeds bearing long, brownish, silky filaments known as kapok.