Ceiba pentandra L.

English: Kapok Tree

German: Kapokbaum

Mandarin: 吉贝 (ji bei)

Portuguese: Arvore-da-lã, Sumaúma

Kingdom: Plantae (2715)

  Phylum: Tracheophyta (2630)

    Class: Magnoliopsida (2217)

      Order: Malvales (81)

        Family: Bombacaceae (4)(family description)

          Genus: Ceiba (1)

            Epithet: pentandra L. (1)

Synonyms: Bombax pentandrum L., Bombax pentandrum L., Ceiba caribaea (Dc.) A. Chev., Eriodendron anfractuosum DC.

anfractuosum => twisted, bent, winding

caribaea => from the Caribbean

pentandra => five-stamen - from Greek ‘penta’ (five) and ‘andron’ (male)

pentandrum => five-stamen - from Greek ‘penta’ (five) and ‘andron’ (male)

Climate: tropical

Habitat: mesophytic

Habit: tree

Flower colour: white

Check for Ceiba pentandra at

World Flora Online, GBIF or IPNI

• [53] Ceiba pentandra - Commercial timbers: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval
• [211] Ceiba pentandra - Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER)
• [1197] Ceiba - Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database
• [1346] Ceiba pentandra - Flora of China @ efloras.org

• [23] Lorenzi,H. (2002): Brazilian trees: A guide to the identification and cultivation of Brazilian native trees. Plantarum, Nova Odessa, São Paulo, Brazil.
• [25] Schütt,P. et al. (2004): Bäume der Tropen. Nikol, Hamburg, Germany.