Kapok!

Kapok! It sounds like a noise made in a Batman fight in the 60's, but is, in fact, the name of a tree and the fuzzy material it produces. I've heard of kapok for years, used in old-fashioned life jackets and in couches and never knowingly saw one, but noticed this tree when walking through Current Settlement in North Eleuthera, Bahamas. 

The oily fuzz seems to act as a way to help the seeds blow around and become dispersed.

Big thorns resembling those on a rose or blackberry adorn the branches and trunk and make me think there must be some part of the tree tasty enough to require protection from browsing animals. 

Whatever: I'm simply delighted to have come across this tree from my childhood in real life. 

And no, I will not try to grow the seeds or use the fuzz.