Pseudobombax is a genus of approximately 28 accepted species of flowering trees and shrubs in the subfamily Bombacoideae of the mallow family Malvaceae, placed in the order Malvales. The genus is closely related to the iconic baobabs and kapok trees that characterize this subfamily, sharing their characteristic swollen, water-storing trunks and spectacular, brush-like flowers produced when the tree is leafless.
Native to the Neotropics, Pseudobombax is distributed across tropical South America, Central America, Mexico, Cuba, Hispaniola, and the Windward Islands. Species occupy diverse habitats from seasonally dry forests to humid lowland rainforests. The genus is perhaps best known to cultivators through Pseudobombax ellipticum, commonly called the shaving brush tree, native to Mexico and Central America, which produces striking pink or white staminal bundles resembling a shaving brush before the leaves emerge.
Members of the genus typically display the Bombacoid habit: large, palmately compound leaves, deciduous in dry-season species, and conspicuous flowers with numerous exserted stamens fused at the base. Their fruits are woody capsules that release seeds embedded in cotton-like fiber — a shared trait with the kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) in the same subfamily.
Distribution
Pseudobombax ranges across tropical South America, Central America, Mexico, Cuba, Hispaniola, and the Windward Islands. Species occur in a wide variety of tropical habitats from seasonally dry forests to lowland humid rainforests across the Neotropics.
Taxonomy Notes
Pseudobombax belongs to the subfamily Bombacoideae within Malvaceae (order Malvales). The subfamily was formerly treated as the separate family Bombacaceae before molecular studies led to its inclusion within the broadly circumscribed Malvaceae. The genus contains approximately 28 accepted species according to Wikipedia; GBIF currently recognises 2 descendant species under its backbone, reflecting ongoing taxonomic revision and synonymy within the group.
