Ceiba

Ceiba
Ceiba pentandra leaves and fruit
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Subfamily: Bombacoideae
Genus: Ceiba
Mill.[1]
Species

19, see text

Synonyms[2]
  • Campylanthera Schott & Endl. (1832)
  • Chorisia Kunth (1822)
  • Eriodendron DC. (1824)
  • Erione Schott & Endl. (1832)
  • Gossampinus Buch.-Ham. (1827)
  • Xylon L. (1758), nom. illeg.

Ceiba is a genus of trees in the family Malvaceae, native to tropical and subtropical areas of the Americas (from Mexico and the Caribbean to northern Argentina) and tropical West Africa.[3] Some species can grow to 70 m (230 ft) tall or more, with a straight, largely branchless trunk that culminates in a huge, spreading canopy, and buttress roots that can be taller than a grown person. The best-known, and most widely cultivated, species is Kapok, Ceiba pentandra, one of several trees known as kapok. Ceiba is a word from the Taíno language meaning "boat" because Taínos use the wood to build their dugout canoes.[4][5]

Ceiba species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species, including the leaf-miner Bucculatrix ceibae, which feeds exclusively on the genus.

Recent botanical opinion incorporates Chorisia within Ceiba and puts the genus as a whole within the family Malvaceae.[3]

  1. ^ "Ceiba Mill". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2003-06-05. Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference potw was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b A TAXONOMIC REVISION OF THE GENUS CEIBA MILL.(2003)
  4. ^ María Elena Gutiérrez L. "En Recursos Biológicos" (in Spanish). Escuela de Ingeniería de Antioquía, Colombia. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Ceiba pentandra" (PDF) (in Spanish). Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad: 65. Retrieved 4 October 2022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)