A Detailed Explanation of the Flower Language and Legendary Stories of the Kapok Flower

The kapok flower is a specialty of the south. Its place of origin is unknown, but it most likely originated in India. In China, it is planted in Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Kunming, Shenzhen, Quanzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen and other places, especially in Guangzhou and Xiamen, where kapok flowers are planted all along the streets as street trees. Every year just after the Lantern Festival, the kapok tree begins to bloom. Now let us take a look at the flower language and legends of the kapok flower!

The Flower Language of the Kapok Flower

Cherish the people around you, cherish the happiness right before your eyes. Legend says that the twelfth day of April is the day the kapok flower blooms. When the kapok flower blooms, all its green leaves fall away, and it puts forth brilliant red blossoms, opening little by little until the whole tree is covered. Seen from afar, patches of fiery red flowers are full of hope and happiness. When the fiery red kapok flowers are in full bloom, that burning passion infects everyone, bringing happiness and joy to all.

The Symbolism of the Kapok Flower

Heroes, men, love in booming red prosperity, symbolizing vigorous upward striving and abundant vitality. The kapok flower is currently the city flower of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province; Chongzuo, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; Panzhihua, Sichuan Province; and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, China. The logos used by the Garden Hotel, South China University of Technology, China Southern Airlines and Guangzhou Television feature the kapok flower pattern, and Guangdong Television also once used a kapok flower logo.

The Legend of the Kapok Flower

Legend has it that on Wuzhi Mountain there was an old Li hero named Jibei, who often led the people to defeat invasions by other ethnic groups. Once, because a traitor informed on him, the old hero was captured. The enemy tied him to a kapok tree and tortured him, but the old hero remained unyielding and was finally killed cruelly. Later, the old hero turned into kapok trees, so the kapok tree is called “Jibei” in memory of this old national hero.

So how did the name “hero tree” come about? Look at its trunk: the tall, self-standing trunk is covered with thorny knobs, not allowing just anyone to climb it at will. Its branches extend in whorls, as if declaring sovereignty to the sky. When it blooms there are no leaves, and after the flowers all fall, leaves grow again. It truly has great spirit, so it also has the fine name “hero tree”.

However, the first person to call the kapok a hero was Chen Gongyin of the Qing dynasty. In his “Kapok Flower Song” he described the kapok flower as “with thick whiskers and a broad face, a fine hero; heroic in spirit and high-crowned, how outstanding”. Since then people have called the kapok tree the hero tree. The origin of another name for the kapok flower is rather pictographic —— after the kapok flower withers, it produces cotton fluff, and the cotton fluff is tied to the large tree. The cotton on the tree is why it is called kapok flower.