With it being Cinco de Mayo, ArborNote’s Tree of the Week is the Kapok Tree (Ceiba pentandra). This tree is a tropical giant, frequently growing 75–125 feet tall, with some specimens reaching 200–250 feet. Young trees have vibrant green, spiny trunks, which turn gray and develop massive, wide-spreading buttress roots as they age. It is native to tropical areas throughout Mexico, particularly in the south and Yucatan Peninsula. The Maya considered the Ceiba the “Tree of Life” or the “World Tree,” representing the connection between the sky, earth, and the underworld. Kapok trees produce a silky cotton like fiber within their fruits, such fruit pods are called by the Maya people “pochote,” a highly valuable fiber for clothing since pre-Hispanic times!