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Post by Shan on Jun 27, 2007 17:39:37 GMT
The Baobab Tree (Adansonia Digitata) The Baobab tree is a strange looking tree that grows in low-lying areas in Africa and Australia. It can grow to enormous sizes and carbon dating indicates that they may live to be 3,000 years old. One ancient hollow Baobab tree in Zimbabwe is so large that up to 40 people can shelter inside its trunk. Various Baobabs have been used as a shop, a prison, a house, a storage barn and a bus shelter. When bare of leaves, the spreading branches of the Baobab look like roots sticking up into the air, rather as if it had been planted upside-down. The African bushman has a legend that tells of the god Thora. He took a dislike to the Baobab growing in his garden, so he threw it out over the wall of Paradise on to Earth below, and although the tree landed upside-down it continued to grow. The tree is certainly very different from any other. The trunk is smooth and shiny, not at all like the bark of other trees, and it is pinkish grey or sometimes copper coloured.
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Post by Shan on Jun 27, 2007 18:10:14 GMT
Pic of a Baobab tree in Barbados. It was said that the baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) was brought to Barbados around 1738 from Guinea in Africa. It is also known as the "Monkey-bread tree". Two magnificent trees with possibly the widest tree-trunks to be found in the Caribbean, grow in Barbados! The largest can be seen in our Queen's Park in Bridgetown. To give an example of the size of this tree of great distinction, it takes 15 adults joining with outstretched arms to cover its circumference.
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Post by Shan on Jun 27, 2007 18:37:03 GMT
Baobab trees flower for the first time at about 20 years of age. In mid-summer, dozens of luminous white blossoms—the size of saucers—open at sunset. Their strong musky odor attracts fruit bats and hosts of insects. Large bats seek out the sweet nectar and collect and distribute pollen as they move from flower to flower. The life of the flower is short-lived; it drops to the ground within hours after the bats and insects feast on the nectar. The seeds are housed in a hairy pod that resembles a miniature rugby ball, inside of which is a white pulp from which “cream of tartar” is derived. Once the flowers fall to the ground, the pods are fed upon by baboons, monkeys, antelope and elephants, who disperse the hard baobab seeds inside the pod. The baobab’s branches, with their hollows, dents and bloated stems, provide shelter and home for a great many animals: bushbabies, squirrels, rodents, lizards, snakes and tree frogs, as well as spiders, scorpions, and insects may live their entire lives in a single tree. Holes in the trunk provide ideal nesting sites for birds, such as rollers, hornbills, parrots, kestrels and spinetails. Larger cavities are often occupied by families of Barn Owls or Ground Hornbills. Eagles, vultures and storks frequently build their large stick nests on the outer branches. The nests of red-billed Buffalo-weavers are more often found in Baobabs than any other tree. Looks like the cavities of this one are being used as stores.
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Post by Shan on Jun 27, 2007 18:40:03 GMT
Here is one with its leaves.
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Post by Shan on Jun 27, 2007 18:53:15 GMT
A different species of the Baobab. Adansoniamadagascariensis - Described initially by Baillon in 1876. Northwestern to northern Madagascar. In the vicinity of Antsiranana it often grows within meters of the sea. Leaves 5-7 foliolate; leaflets subsessile with winged petioles. 8-10 pairs of secondary veins. Fruit globose to subglobose, usually wider than long. Flowering February to April. Leaves present November to April. This is the Avenue de Baobab near Morandava in western Madagascar, the big island off the southeast coast of Africa. The baobab tree in the picture is Grandidier's baobab. It is named for Alfred Grandidier, the phenomenal French explorer and naturalist who made the first detailed study of the animals, plants, geology and people of Madagascar between 1865 and 1870.
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Post by Shan on Jun 27, 2007 19:05:49 GMT
The base of what is said to be Africa's largest tree. The tree is called a baobab tree, and it is approximately 5,000 years old. It's located in northern Botswana near the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans.
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Post by ss on Jun 27, 2007 19:17:30 GMT
That is a BIIIIG tree...
I guess the statute of limitations have ran out for prosecution,...so..
I remember meeting a woman on the outskirts of Mombasa, Kenya that had a house built under one of those trees...I got in trouble for getting back to my ship late....It was 35 or 40 years ago, but I still remember that...............tree.... ;D
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Post by janggut on Jun 28, 2007 1:35:10 GMT
beautiful tree. wish i can plant that in my yard. ;D
then again, i wish i have a very big yard & plant all kinds of trees. ;D
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Post by Galadriel on Jun 28, 2007 9:10:42 GMT
Baobab trees are awsome! With their special shape and their amazing age. Nice pics Shan
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Post by Galadriel on Jun 29, 2007 9:00:58 GMT
I've found an Australian Baobab
Adansonia gregorii, commonly known as boab, is a tree in the family Malvaceae. As with other baobabs, it is easily recognised by the swollen base of its trunk, which gives the tree a bottle-like appearance. Endemic to Australia, boab occurs in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, and east into the Northern Territory. It is the only baobab to occur in Australia.
It has alternate names as * bottle tree * dead rat tree * gadawon — one of the names used by the local Indigenous Australians. Other names include larrgadi or larrgadiy, which is widespread in the Nyulnyulan languages of the Western Kimberley.
The specific name "gregorii" honours the Australian explorer Augustus Gregory.
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Post by LaFille on Jul 4, 2007 3:10:55 GMT
That's really cool... Baobabs always remind me of The Little Prince story. I wish I could get myself one too. ;D
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