Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae - Baobab 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.

Malawi: 1 cultivated genus and 2 cultivated taxa.