I Found Out What that Tree Is!!

[Diane]

The tree in Buenos Aires (see the wacky travelogue) was quickly identified by my mom - it is a Kapok tree. If Kapok sounds familiar to you, that's because it is what was used to stuff life preservers before plastic foam was invented.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

That is cool. I am still laughing at Lynda's 'tampon tree' from post 20 in that thread.

Cheers,
BD

[desertgal]

That is not the only thing that was used to stuff life preservers. During WWII we used to comb the hills in late summer and gather milkweed pods in big burlap bags. They were turned in and used to fill life preservers.

Katie