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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).

[edit] 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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