Baobab is the common name of a genus (Adansonia) containing eight species of trees, native to Madagascar (having six species), mainland Africa and Australia (one species in each). The mainland African species also occurs on Madagascar, but it is not a native of that country.
Other common names include boab, boaboa, bottle tree and monkey bread tree. The species reach heights of 5–30 m and trunk diameters of 7-11 m. A specimen in Limpopo Province, South Africa, often considered the largest example alive, has a circumference of 50 m and an average diameter of 15 m.citation needed
Some baobabs are reputed to be many thousands of years old, which is difficult to verify as the wood does not produce annual growth rings, though radiocarbon dating may be able to provide age data. Few botanists believe these claims of extreme age; current evidence suggests they rarely exceed 400 years.[1]
The Malagasy species are important components of the Madagascar dry deciduous forests. Within that biome, A. madagascariensis and A. rubrostipa occur specifically in the Anjajavy Forest, sometimes growing out of the tsingy limestone itself.
Species
The name Adansonia honours Michel Adanson, the French naturalist and explorer who described A. digitata.
Water storage
Baobabs store water inside the swollen trunk (up to 120,000 liters or 32,000 US gallons) to endure the harsh drought conditions particular to each region.[2] All occur in seasonally arid areas, and are deciduous, shedding their leaves during the dry season.
Uses
The fruit is about 18 cm long
The leaves are commonly used as a leaf vegetable throughout the area of mainland African distribution, including Malawi, Zimbabwe, and the Sahel. They are eaten both fresh and as a dry powder. In Nigeria, the leaves are locally known as kuka, and are used to make kuka soup.
The fruit is nutritious possibly having more vitamin C than oranges and exceeding the calcium content of cow's milk[3] and is also known as "sour gourd" or "monkey's bread". The dry pulp of the fruit, after separation from the seeds and fibers, is eaten directly or mixed into porridge or milk. In Malawi, the fruit pulp is used to make a juice rich in nutrients such as calcium and vitamin C.[3]
The fruit was once used in the production of tartar sauce.[4] In various parts of East Africa, the dry fruit pulp is covered in sugary coating (usually with red coloring) and sold in packages as a sweet and sour candy called "boonya" or "bungha".
The seeds are mostly used as a thickener for soups, but may also be fermented into a seasoning, roasted for direct consumption, or pounded to extract vegetable oil. The tree also provides a source of fiber, dye, and fuel.
Indigenous Australians used baobabs as a source of water and food, and used leaves medicinally. They also painted and carved the outside of the fruits and wore them as ornaments. A very large, hollow baobab south of Derby, Western Australia was used in the 1890s as a prison for Aboriginal convicts on their way to Derby for sentencing. The Boab Prison Tree still stands and is now a tourist attraction.
The whole fruit of the baobab is not available in the EU as current EU legislations from 1997 dictate that foods not commonly consumed in the EU have to be formally approved before going on sale. On 15 July 2008, the EU approved parts of the fruit for use in smoothies and cereal bars. Traditional uses of the whole fruit are unlikely outside of Africa as the fruit will be processed for export as a white powder with a cheese-like texture to be used as an ingredient in products.[3]
Culture and myths
- The national tree of Madagascar.[5]
- Used for bonsai (the most popular being A. digitata).
- Known colloquially as "upside-down tree", it is cited in African lore: after creation, each of the animals was given a tree to plant and the hyena planted the baobab upside-down.citation needed
- Tabaldi is the name of the Baobab tree in Sudan and its fruit is Gongalis. Baobab's trunk is used as a tank to store water. People in west Sudan use the hollow in the trunk to save water in the rain season. Gongalis is used to make juice or use to cure stomach and other diseases.
- Bark may have been used hundreds of years ago in Africa as a backscratcher or toothbrush.
- Having a distinctive foul smell, tree parts may have been used by primitive tribes to ward off evil spirits, making the tree known in African folklore as "God's Thumb."
- Known as Kalpavriksha in Hinduism as perhaps the most mystical tree of Hindu Mythology.citation needed It is believed by Hindus that it has the power to grant any wish a person makes by touching and worshiping it.
- Rafiki, in The Lion King, makes his home in a baobab tree.
- Ernst Haeckel mentions "monkey bread-fruit trees (Adansonia)" in his The History of Creation (Chap. 29), and claims that their "individual life exceeds a period of five thousand years".
- The owners of Sunland Farm in Limpopo, South Africa have built a pub called "The Big Baobab Pub" inside the hollow trunk of a 72ft high baobab. The tree, which is 155ft in circumference, is reported to have been carbon dated at over 6,000 years old.[6][7]
- Baobabs are cited in the Little Prince as a tree that may "split" a small planet into pieces.
References
External links
- Braun, K. (1900) Beiträge zur Anatomie der Adansonia digitata L. F. Reinhardt, Universitäts-Buchdruckerei, Basel, OCLC 15926986
- Baum, D. A., Small, R. L., & Wendel, J. F. (1998). Biogeography and floral evolution of baobabs (Adansonia, Bombacaceae) as inferred from multiple data sets. Systematic Biology 47 (2): 181-207.
- Pakenham, T. (2004). Remarkable Baobab. Norton, New York, ISBN 0-297-84373-7
- Jardin Botanique et Pepiniere: Baobab species details
- Jardin Botanique et Pepiniere: Baobab photo gallery
- Madagascar info: Baobab photo gallery (Malagasy species only)
- King's American Dispensatory: Baobab: herbal information
- Baobab: Interactive Bibliography
- Baobab leaves: from "Celtnet Herb Guide"
Gallery
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