Originally Posted by
chessie
I found a curious item that caught my eye. I recently purchased the 2009 Old Farmers Almanac. There is an article on milkweed therein, and quoting pg 54
"Prior to the capture of Java and the Phillippines by the Japanese military in 1941, those islands provided the United States with kapok, which is silk floss derived from the silk-cotton trees that was used to stuff life preservers. In their search for substitute stuffing, American scientists learned that bunched milkweed floss floats and is warmer and much lighter in weight than wool." The government had citizens collecting milkweed pods, and it says further that a life jacket containing 1.5 pounds of milkweed floss could keep a 150-pound man afloat for up to 10 hrs.