Flowering Silk Floss Tree
At Onaga, Nishihara, Nagami District of Okinawa, this tree jumped out at me.
Half of it was bursting out in bright pink and yellow blossoms.
The other half, had only the bright green leaves.
Click, click went the camera shutter and, off we went to get the research done.
Somewhere, before, I know, I had seen this type of tree but, couldn't remember where.
The tree, I mentioned to Click Okinawa Dude, is called a Sake Bottle Tree, in Okinawa.
But, I couldn't remember the Latin or common English names.
Going back through some 2,000 blog posts was taking forever, trying to identify the thing.
When you search "bottle trees" online, you get all kinds of nonsensical junk.
Like, people, actually stick bottles on branches and, call it a bottle tree. Nuts !
So, I got the brilliant idea of using a Japanese search engine.
"Tokkurikiwata" (トックリキワタ) got me, all I needed to know.
Tokkuri, means sake bottle. Ki means tree and Wata (local Okinawa dialect) means belly.
Once, I arrived at a Japanese website where, I could identify the flowers, I hit gold.
It gave me the Latin name: Chorisa speciosa.
At Okinawa Banana SeeSaa it was confirmed: we've got a Sake Bottle Tree here.
For the English speaking audience, I went to Floridata, in case people want to grow their own.
They call this a Silk Floss Tree because, you can use the silk from it to stuff pillows.
Those interested in buying plants can visit Top Tropicals and, order some.
That way, they won't have to keep going around shooting ducks. Hah !
Other Resources:
Wikipedia if, you're inclined to believe them and,
ISBN4-900668-63-X
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