[Sp.; possibly of native West Indian origin.] The God-tree, Silk Cotton-tree of the W. Indies, Eriodendron anfractuosum (Bombax Ceiba). (Miller.)
1812. S. Rogers, Columbus, X. 157. Ceiba, and Indian fig, and plane sublime.
1843. Prescott, Mexico, II. iv. (1864), 92. He gave three cuts with his sword on a large ceiba tree which grew in the place.
1852. Th. Ross, trans. Humboldt’s Trav., II. xvi. 3. The ceiba with its large yellow flowers.
1879. Boddam-Whetham, Roraima, 63. One who … kneels before an oak as the wild Indian does before his ceiba.
