The Baobab Tree

predates both mankind and the splitting of the continents over 200 million years ago. It belongs to the genus Adansonia, which contains nine species. These are found in the drier parts of Africa, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka and Australia. Of the nine species, six are native to Madagascar, two to mainland Africa and one to Australia. The African and Australian baobabs look very similar, even though they are not the same species. Baobabs grow in 32 African countries. In West Africa, the baobab’s presence is often an indication of a human settlement nearby. The tree is most frequently found in dry, hot savannahs of sub-Saharan Africa, where the climate is extremely arid and rainfall is seasonal. The baobab is a deciduous tree, which means that it loses its leaves during the dry season. It is a succulent, which means that during the rainy season it absorbs and stores water in its vast trunk. This water enables it to produce a nutrient-dense fruit in the dry season when all around is dry and arid. The trunk has a diameter of 10-14 metres and the tree has a height of 18-25 metres. The baobab tree is a strange looking tree that grows in low-lying areas in Africa. Its trunk is very wide and it has large white flowers that bloom…