Spermatophyta: Dicotyledonae: Archichlamydeae: Malvales

Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae - Baobab family

Bailey, L.H. & Bailey, E.Z. (1976) Hortus Third. A concise Dictionary of Plants Cultivated in the United States and Canada Macmillan Publishing Co, Inc., New York

Wild, H. (1961) Bombacaceae Flora Zambesiaca 1(2)

Description of the family

The following description refers to Adansonia only. Tree, with an extraordinary swollen trunk. Stipules present, deciduous. Leaves alternate, simple (in young trees) or digitate (in older trees). Flowers large and showy, pendulous, solitary in leaf axils, bisexual, actinomorphic. Pedicels with 2 bracteoles. Calyx deeply 5-lobed (in ours), often with an epicalyx. Petals 5, free. Stamens numerous, united into a tube below (in ours); anthers 1-thecous. Ovary superior, 5-10-locular (in ours). Fruit woody, indehiscent (in ours).

Comment: According to the most recent taxonomic research by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG-III), Malvaceae sensu lato now includes Bombacaceae, Tiliaceae and Sterculiaceae, three families traditionally considered separate but closely related. In this new concept Malvaceae would consist of the following nine subfamilies:

Byttnerioideae (formerly part of Sterculiaceae, including Hermannia, Melochia and Waltheria)
Grewioideae (formerly part of Tiliaceae including all our regional genera)
Sterculioideae (formerly part of , including Cola and Sterculia)
Tilioideae (formerly part of Tiliaceae Not in our region)
Dombeyoideae (formerly part of Sterculiaceae, including Dombeya and Melhania)
Brownlowioideae (formerly part of Tiliaceae Not in our region)
Helicteroideae (formerly part of Sterculiaceae, including Triplochiton)
Malvoideae (formerly Malvaceae sensu stricto
Bombacoideae (formerly Bombacaceae)

Worldwide: 26 genera and 250 species, tropical, especially America.

Zambia: 2 genera and 2 taxa.

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Links to genera:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this family

GenusContent
Adansonia L.Description
Ceiba Mill.Description

Other sources of information about Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
Flora of Caprivi: Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
Flora of Malawi: Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
Flora of Malawi: cultivated Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
Flora of Mozambique: Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
Flora of Mozambique: cultivated Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
Flora of Zambia: cultivated Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
Flora of Zimbabwe: Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
Flora of Zimbabwe: cultivated Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
JSTOR Plant Science: Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
Wikipedia: Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
Plants of the World Online: Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae
Tropicos: Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae



Copyright: Mike Bingham, Annette Willemen, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Mark Hyde, 2011-24

Bingham, M.G., Willemen, A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. and Hyde, M.A. (2024). Flora of Zambia: Family page: Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae.
https://www.zambiaflora.com/speciesdata/family.php?family_id=35, retrieved 29 March 2024

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