I’ve learned to watch where I’m riding during my weekly Beachcombing surveys, but recently I had an unusual reason to pay extra attention. Scattered among the wrack line were pieces of bark covered with large, sharp spikes. I nearly ran over one with my e-bike tire. That definitely would have ruined my day!
These strange pieces come from the kapok tree, also called the silk-cotton tree, a tropical species native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America.
Kapok trees can be enormous, commonly reaching 80 feet or more, with some growing 150 to 200 feet tall. Large trees develop massive buttress roots that extend outward from the trunk like giant wooden fins.
One of their most distinctive features is the cone-shaped spines
covering the trunks of younger trees. Although we often call them thorns, botanically they are better described as spines or prickles. Young trees tend to be much spinier than older ones, which can lose much of this impressive armor as they mature.
That’s why pieces I find on the beach can look so different. Some have huge, sharp spikes that resemble prehistoric armor, while others simply look like ordinary bark.
Although kapoks are tropical trees, a small number are grown locally in South Texas. The pieces washing ashore, however, could also have traveled much farther. Kapoks grow along Mexico’s Gulf coast and throughout the Caribbean, where bark and branches can enter the water during floods and storms. Gulf currents and winds can then carry floating material considerable distances before depositing it on Texas beaches.
Kapoks also produce beautiful flowers and woody seed pods filled with seeds surrounded by silky fibers called kapok. The fibers are so buoyant they were historically used in life jackets and other flotation devices.
Like sea beans and coconuts, these unusual pieces of kapok bark are another interesting find in the Texas wrack line.
Just watch your bike tires!
Jace Tunnell is the director of community engagement for the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. His Beachcombing series appears in newspapers, as a weekly video on YouTube and KEDT PBS, and as a weekly feature on KEDT NPR. Follow Jace at harteresearch.org, Facebook (@harteresearch) and Instagram (@harteresearch).
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: This tropical tree bark looks like a spiky cone
