Bombacoideae

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Bombacoideae
Cortex of Ceiba pentandra, a member of Bombacoideae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Malvales
Family:	Malvaceae
Subfamily:	Bombacoideae Burnett, 1835

Herbaceous or woody plants; leaves alternate,commonly palmately lobed, with small and caducous stipuules; hermaphrodite, actinomorphic flowers; calyx of 5 sepal united at the base, accompanied frequently by an epicalyx (involucel); corolla of 5 free petals; androecium of numerous stamens, typically with filaments fused in a staminal tube (column) that surrounds the styles; pollen smooth; ovary superior and pluricarpellate; fruits schizocarpous or capsular.

• Adansonia
  • Adansonia digitata baobab.
• Aguiaria
• Bernoullia
• Bombax; secretes sweet nectar, around the thorns, to feed colonies of wasps that drive away the predators
• Camptostemon
• Catostemna
• Cavanillesia
• Ceiba
  • Ceiba pentandra; secretes sweet nectar, around the thorns, to feed colonies of wasps that drive away the predators
• Chiranthodendron
• Eriotheca
• Fremontodendron
• Gyranthera
• Huberodendron
• Matisia
• Neobuchia
• Ochroma
  • Ochroma lagopus; balsa
• Pachira
• Patinoa
• Pentaplaris
• Phragmotheca
• Pseudobombax
• Quararibea
• Scleronema
• Septotheca
• Spirotheca

Camptostemon and Pentaplaris might more appropriately be placed in Malvoideae as might the tribe Matisieae (Matisia, Phragmotheca and Quararibea).

Relationship to Bombacaceae

Some taxa in this subfamily were previously grouped under the now-obsolete family Bombacaceae as recent phylogenetic research has shown that Bombacaceae as traditionally circumscribed (including tribe Durioneae) is not a monophyletic group.

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