Anna Neal, age 10, of Beaumont, Texas for her question:

WHERE DO WE GET KAPOK?

Kapok is a light, soft, lustrous, cotton like fiber that comes from the seedpods of the kapok tree. The tree is also called a silk cotton tree and it is related to the balsa tree.

Kapok trees grow in Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka and tropical America.

After the ripe fruit of the kapok tree is picked, the seeds and fibers are taken out and dried in the sun. The workers then separate the fibers and seeds, and pack the fibers into bales.

Kapok is light and vermin proof. Also, it will not absorb water readily.

The fiber material is useful as a filling for mattresses and furniture, and also as a substitute for cork in life jackets.

The seeds yield an oil that is used in making soap and cattle feed. In addition, the tree produces a gum used in medicine. The light, soft wood is sometimes used for canoes and rafts.