any of several large, tropical, trees (genera Bombax and Ceiba) of the bombax family that have capsular fruits with silky hairs around the seeds
See silk-cotton tree in American Heritage Dictionary 4
noun
A spiny, deciduous, tropical tree (Ceiba pentandra) having palmately compound leaves and cultivated for its leathery fruit that contain the silklike fiber kapok.
Either of two trees (Bombax ceiba or Cochlospermum religiosum) having seeds surrounded by silky hairs.