Calmodulin (CaM) and calmodulin-like (CML) proteins are major Ca sensors involved in the regulation of plant development and stress responses by converting Ca signals into appropriate cellular responses. However, characterization and expression analyses of / genes in the precious species, , remain limited. In this study, five and sixty genes were identified that only had EF-hand motifs with no other functional domains. The phylogenetic tree was clustered into 11 subgroups, including a unique clade of s. The s were intron-rich with four EF-hand motifs, whereas s had two to four EF-hands and were mostly intronless. s/s were unevenly distributed across the 12 chromosomes of and underwent purifying selection. Fragment duplication was the main driving force for the evolution of the PbCaM/CML gene family. Cis-acting element analysis indicated that s/s might be related to hormones, growth and development, and stress response. Expression analysis showed that s were generally highly expressed in five different tissues and under drought stress, whereas s showed specific expression patterns. The expression levels of 11 candidate s/s were responsive to ABA and MeJA, suggesting that these genes might act through multiple signaling pathways. The overexpression of / genes significantly increased the tolerance of yeast cells to drought stress. The identification and characterization of the CaM/CML gene family in laid the foundation for future functional studies of these genes.