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Adansonia digitata

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Northern Namibia, 19 meters in circumference.


Night flowering.


The fruits are rich in vitamin C.


A good trick to get the seeds going is to soak them in a cup of hot water.


Twins, north of Otavi in Namibia. Each three metres in diameter.


Dormant tree in Namibia.


Four meters in diameter.


How most non-Africans see the baobabs of Senegal.


The half year seedlings form a nice, little caudex.

Author:  Carl Linnaeus, 1759
Family:  BOMBACACEAE*
Origin:  Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe (Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Madagascar, Mozambique Channel I, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Oman)
Soil:  Grit - Mix
Water:  Maximum
Sun:  Maximum
Thickness:  15-20 Meters
Height:  22 Meters
Flower:  White
Propagate:  Seeds/Cuttings
Names:  Baobab, Cream of Tartar Tree, Monkey-bread Tree, Lemonade Tree 
Synonyms:  Adansonia bahobab, L.
Adansonia baobab, Gaertn.
Adansonia integrifolia, Raf.
Adansonia kilima, Pettigrew, K.L.Bell, Bhagw., Grinan, Jillani, Jean Mey., Wab
Adansonia scutula, Steud.
Adansonia situla, Spreng.
Adansonia somalensis, Chiov.
Adansonia sphaerocarpa, A.Chev.
Adansonia sulcata, A.Chev.
Baobabus digitata, Kuntze
Ophelus sitularius, Lour.

The big and beautiful tree-like succulent appears in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zaïre and Zimbabwe (and is brought around by Arab traders to i.e. Madagascar and Oman). It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1759. It belongs to the Bombacaceae* family. The trunk will get from 15 to 20 meter wide and the tree up to 22 meters high. It can be reproduced by cuttings and seeds. Grows best in a well drained soil, some water and sun in summer and dry in winter.

 Seeds have been brought by Arab traders to Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Oman, where around 100, up to 2000 years old trees can be found in Dhofar. Those plants have done fine so fare up north, and the biggest have reached ten meters in diameter!

There are 6-10 species of Adansonias on Madagascar, one in the South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and one in the Kimberley region (Northern and Western Territory), Australia.

The genera is named after the French naturalist Michel Adanson,1727-1806, and digitata meaning hand-like, is in reference to the shape of the leafs.

It has gourd/egg-formed green fruits, which can be 12 cm long, with several seeds in a vitamin C hard-foam.

*)Accordantly to the latest taxonomic system; APG IV 2016, Bombacaceae is now part of the Malvaceae.


A tree sown by a Muslim in 1477, in northern Sri Lanka. 20 meters around.


Another tree in Sri Lanka


Three years old, and I have a bush from a cutting. Around one meter tall.


The Kirstenbosch tree - in a rainy day.


How most non-Africans see the baobabs of Senegal.