It all began with a little tree, a sapling brought from its native India in the 1880s by orange grove owner Robert D. Hoyt, and planted in his front yard in unincorporated southeastern Clearwater, near the edge of Tampa Bay in an area known as Cooper’s Point.
Called Java Cotton, Bombax or by its genus, Ceiba, the most common name for the fast-growing soft-wood tree with bright red flowers is Kapok. The Kapok tree.
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