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Flora, Flora & Fauna In Jaipur

Silk Cotton Tree | Semal Tree |The Harbinger Of Spring

During my explorations in parks to find the Tesu tree in Jaipur, I spotted this visual feast in the crimson shade of Semal flowers & trees. Unaware of the name of the tree, a street vendor in the vicinity came to my rescue; he mentioned it was a Semal tree. It’s easiest to spot the Semal tree in Jaipur during springtime. There are many Semal or silk cotton trees in the C-Scheme, JLN Marg, among other places in Jaipur. Many of these trees are quite old. During the spring season in Jaipur, the Semal Trees are an absolute treat for eyes.

Semal Tree | Everything you want to know

There are many Semal trees or Silk Cotton trees in the central areas of Jaipur, especially around Central Park. Previously, I wrote a blog on the Flame of Forest | Tesu tree in Jaipur. Flame of the Forest or Tesu tree flowers are used for preparing organic Gulaal. Gulaal is a powder used in Holi – the festival of colors.

Bombax Ceiba shamli kantesanwar semal tree flowers blooming in jaipur

Silk Cotton Tree Names

The botanical name of the Semal Tree is Bombax Ceiba or Salmalia Malabarica in English; it is called the Silk Cotton Tree. Semal Tree in Hindi is called – शाल्मली, काटेसांवर. In India, people commonly call it Semal ka Ped. A few people claim Shalmali word owes it origin from Sanskrit language.

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Crimson beauty. The Semal Tree is also called Silk Cotton Tree
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The vibrant colors of the Silk Cotton Tree in C-Scheme, Jaipur

In Jaipur, it is difficult to find Tesu trees in the urban landscape of Jaipur. In contrast, the Semal Tree is easy to spot on roadsides across central areas of Jaipur, like C-Scheme.

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Blooming on the road in the pink city.

Semal Tree Flower

It’s a beautiful tree with big & bright red flowers which stands out among the surroundings. Its flower has 5 petals which only appear in the spring before the new foliage.

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A close-up of the Semal flower.

Each of these flowers produces more than 7-8 million pollen from its 70-90 anthers for which cross-pollination is important. This is achieved with the help of birds and insects drawn by their color & beauty.

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The flower produces a capsule, its fruit. This fruit of Semal tree is a ball-like structure that appears during April and is full of cotton-like fiber called Kapok. This pod like structure is called Dhepa or Semal Gulla in the Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh. The hot & dry summer weather makes the capsule open, allowing the seeds to fly with the winds due to their fluffy structure. It is common to see the ground around the tree carpeted with these cotton-like structures during the summers. In the ensuing months, the lucky seeds germinate into a plant due to rains. Here are pictures of the fluffy cotton-like structure produced by the Semal tree.

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Silk Cotton Tree fabric

Semal Tree Uses

The tree is not merely beautiful, every part is useful. Here are some common uses of the tree.

  • The bark of the Semal tree is softwood, used in the match sticks. Since the bark lasts long even when submerged in water, fishermen use it as a float. Its seed produces edible oil, used in making soaps.

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  • Fabric – In rural areas, it is for this fiber that villagers gather Semal fruit. Kopak is used for filling low-priced pillows and quilts, which are commonly used in rural areas in India.
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Captured at the start of the spring season, the flowers are about to bloom.
  • Medicinal uses- Ayurvedic medicines are prepared from the gum produced by this tree. Almost every part of the tree has medicinal use in Ayurveda.
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A Semal tree during early spring before the blooming of flowers
  • Culture – Many tribal communities in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh worship Semal tree. They derive many uses from this tree; it’s a part and parcel of their everyday life. The tree attracts many birds and bees, after all, that’s what bright-colored flowers are for.
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Bombax Ceiba tree or Silk cotton tree flowers during the spring in Jaipur
  • Festival & customs- According to customs, the stem of this tree is used as Holi-Danda during Holika Dahan on Holi as it is considered a symbol of the mythological character Prahlad. This has resulted in the cutting of the Semal tree at a fast pace in certain regions.

Semal Tree Price

The wood from this has a good demand. Semal tree wood prices range from Rs 250 to 400 per cubic foot.

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Semal Tree leaves

The fall in the population of Silk Cotton tree, an important tree species has worried environmentalists. It’s imperative that we conserve this tree species to ensure the balance in ecology as many birds and bees depend on this tree. Cutting any link in the food chain has a disastrous effect. Reduction in the bee population in some places is already a concern. It’s being said that if the bees vanish from this planet, the extinction of the human population is guaranteed!

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It’s interesting to note how both Tesu and Semal tree is linked with the festival of Holi. Both these trees bloom during the March-April period during which the Holi is celebrated and has bright flowers. Somehow it seems nature has planned it out, so well!!

silk cotton tree in jaipur semal ka ped

I hope to see a lot more Semal trees in Jaipur, after all, It’s a beautiful tree. It will be interesting to mention that one of the famous writers from India- Ruskin Bond has also written about this tree in his book – The World of Trees. He has a chapter called The Feast in the Semal Tree. Have you read this book?

Have you ever spotted one in your vicinity?

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The sidewalk looks beautiful when the Semal flowers all around.

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132 thoughts on “Silk Cotton Tree | Semal Tree |The Harbinger Of Spring”

    1. Semal is used as holi danda. Its not used for preparing gulaal . Tesu flower are used for preparing gulaal, link given in this post on the write up at start of this post. I’m happy you liked this post

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  4. I remember this tree from my childhood days. It’s an absolute wonder to look at when it’s in full bloom. As a 7th grader I used to walk past one such tree every day to collect it’s flowers. It lives upto its name – silk cotton tree- because it’s petals have an amzing rich, silky feel to it. And your pics do it justice. Beautifully captured

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      4. we too have bougainvilleas blooming here in Jaipur, but not many Gulmohar trees. Gulmohar is so popular in Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. It’s a beautiful tree. 🙂

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      5. Oh yes, bougainvillea is a very hardy shrub. There’s only one place I haven’t seen it, and it’s nowhere 😀 😀 I love Gulmohars, and Amaltas. Both remind me of colorful grapes 🙂

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  5. Sounds like you persisted quite a bit to look for the Tetsu tree, Arv. The Semal tree sounds very much impressive. Interesting to hear its place in faith and religion, and hopefully it’s not a tree that will go extinct soon. After all, it takes a while for trees to grow and bloom.

    Very impressive close ups of the flower and fruit, and a diverse array of shots too. Love the last shot on the ground. Those fruit almost resemble pears 🙂 Silk Cotton tree is such a fitting name for it – the kopak being used to fill pillows. Imagine, if you get a pillow like that, you will be literally sleeping on a bed of flowers ::

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    1. Mabel these pictures are of flowers only. The fruit will appear after a while, so I haven’t posted their pictures, yet. In our evolution cycle, we tend to use natural products since they are available all around us, in plenty. As we move up, we replace them with “new” and “advanced” things like fiber pillows. And then some day we find that these are not good for health and create problems like asthma and so on. Unfortunately, we are ditching natural products because of thriving commercial interests. we seriously need to fall back on natural things rather than factory made commercial stuff.

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      1. Haha! Those buds look like the fruit, lol 😀 They actually look quite sizable too. I agree with you. More natural stuff the better, not only good for our health but good for the environment. Interesting that you bring up the subject of pillow in your blog. I’m on the hunt to buy a new pillow 😀

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      2. what a coincidence Mabel! I hope you are able to find something that has natural filling. It’s hard to find, though except for the down feathers which is quite pricey! I was also mistaken with the buds, initially. But then I saw the flowers blooming from few to clear out the confusion. I guess I will post a picture of the fruit, as well. 🙂

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      3. I probably will have to go with fake filling since I can’t afford something more than that right now 😀 Good luck with getting more shots in the warmer weather. I am sure you will come up with some great ones as usual 🙂

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      4. That’s a reality Mabel. Fifty years ago artificial was expensive, its the other way around now! Thanks for the good wishes. Unfortunately as the weather turns hot, the photo quality goes down. Too much light …and its quite harsh too.:)

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  7. Interesting to know about the Semal tree. It seems to be a very useful tree indeed and yeah, it is beautiful. I see there are no leaves on the tree will they come after instead of the flowers?

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  10. Such a beautiful tree, Arv, and I can understand your concern about its future due to so many being cut down. Interesting to read about the Semal tree’s link with the festival of Holi, and to the production of kapok. Lovely post.

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      2. Great. Out here the trees are all bare now. The leaves are yet to appear. Few of these trees do have beautiful flowers but then they have very less flowers. Enjoy the sight there, Sudhir. 🙂

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      1. Yes we have many types of trees here and since the leaves are gone during winter it’s always a great sign in spring to see the buds flowers and leaves appearing 😊

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    1. Thanks. When I started blogging I wanted to do an entire project on trees. I guess somewhere in between other things took over. Also I don’t really know if people are actually interested in knowing more about trees?
      Thanks for the appreciation 🙂

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  20. This is so beautiful and your post is also informative about the other importance of the tree. I knew the use of the fruits to make cotton and the esthetic feel when the flowers are in full bloom. Many regions might have many rituals associated with the tree but for any cause, trees should not be cut down. Along with this tree, every tree plays an important role in the ecosystem so they must be preserved. After relocating to Pune I see these trees more often by the roadside which was rare in my native place in Kolkata so I become very delighted to see the bright red blooms covering the tree.

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    1. You are right, each region has its own way of celebrating a tree by way of rituals. We need to highlight their importance in our lives. We hardly know which trees are present around us which is sad, in a way. I’m glad you have found these trees in Pune. Do you look around for trees in your daily life?

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      1. I do look around trees, although I may not know a lot about them but I love trees and among other reasons the main reason is for bird watching 🙂 the flowers and the fruits are the next and then comes the foliage and after that the esthetic value it provides to the place… I can just go on with my reasons for watching trees. 🙂

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