Ceiba is the name of a genus of many species of large trees found in tropical areas, including Mexico, Central America, South America, The Bahamas, Belize and the Caribbean, West Africa, and Southeast Asia. Some species can grow to 70m 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. Recent botanical opinion incorporates Chorisia within Ceiba, raising the number of species from 10 to 20 or more, and puts the genus as a whole within the family Malvaceae.

Ceiba pentandra is a giant in the rainforests. The kapok tree can reach up to 60m in height, sometimes growing as much as 4m per year. Due to its extreme height, the kapok, or ceiba tree, towers over the other rainforest vegetation. The trunk can expand to 3m in diameter. In the nooks and grooves of this huge plant live number of species including frogs, birds and bromeliads. The kapok tree is deciduous, shedding all of its leaves during the dry season. The kapok tree is found throughout the Neotropics, from southern Mexico to the southern Amazon and even to parts of West Africa. The majestic kapok tree has many uses for humans. Its wood is lightweight and porous; good for making carvings, coffins and dugout canoes. The silky fibres that disperse the seeds are too small for weaving but make great stuffing for bedding and life preservers. Soaps can be made from the oils in the seeds. Other parts of the giant tree are used as medicines. Ceiba pentandra bark decoction has been used as an aphrodisiac. It is used as an additive in some versions of the psychoactive hallucinogenic drink Ayahuasca.