Bombax

(bõmbaks.) (Bot.) A gen. of plants, O. Sterculia cere, comprising large soft-wooded trees, whose capsules are filled with a fine cottony substance enveloping the seeds, but of too short a fibre to be manufactured into cloth. The B. trees, which belong to tropical forests, are remarkable for forming huge buttre es, projecting from the parent trunk. [s. 103]