The Baobab Tree of Penang is believed to be the oldest planted tree in Malaysia, and one of the most unusual-looking trees in Penang. There are plenty of heritage trees in Penang, but the Baobab is a grand dame in a class of its own. It stands on the traffic island between Jalan Residensi and Jalan Macalister, in its own picket-fence compound. Although it appears very elderly and frail, and even require crutches to stay up, all effort is taken to keep it standing.

There is a Penang belief that the baobab tree brings luck to the island, and must be kept standing by all means, or else calamity will fall on Penang. A more colourful twist to the belief states that Penang is actually floating in the sea and the Baobab tree, with its upside-down looking trunk, actually acts as a stopper. If it is somehow uprooted, water will gush out of the hole and the whole island will sink.

A native of the semi-arid part of sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar, the baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) was planted in 1871 (making it older than the Rubber Tree of Kuala Kangsar) by Tristram Charles Sawyer Speedy (better known simply as Captain Speedy), the English explorer who was hired by Perak Mentri Ngah Ibrahim to quell the restive situation in Larut.

Baobab tree

The baobab produces green buds in spring. The buds looking like hanging tennis balls. These buds open into fragrant white flower. The oblong fruits are not pretty. They are dark brown and wizened, looking somewhat like dead rats.

It is recently (18 July 2007) reported that the Lions Club of Penang has put aside RM15,000 to beautify the traffic island where the Baobab tree stands, to turn it into a green garden. They are getting assistance from the Lion Clubs in Taiwan, Australia, Kuala Lumpur, Thailand and Singapore for this project, and when completed, the Penang Municipal Council will take over the maintenance.

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Madagascar is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, off the south eastern coast of Africa. The main island also called Madagascar which is the fourth largest island in the world and is home to five percent of the worlds plant and animal species. Most notable are the lemur of primates, the carnivorous fosse, three endemic bird families and six endemic baobab species.

Baobab fruit flower

Despite its location close to the African continent, the first human settlers of Madagascar appear to have come from Asia, rather than Africa. The culture shows the influence of both Africa and Asia.

The Malagasy language is of Malaya Polynesian origin and is generally spoken throughout the island. French is spoken among the educated population of this former French colony. English, although still rare, is becoming more widely spoken. Indians in Madagascar descend mostly from traders who arrived in the newly independent nation looking for better opportunities. The majority of them came from the west coast of India known as Muslim and Hindu. The majority speak Hindi or Gujarati, and though some other Indian dialects also exist a large number of the Indians in Madagascar have a high level of education, particularly the younger generation, which attempts to contribute their knowledge to the development of Madagascar.

Madagascar has got several microclimates due to the variation of the altitudes and its regional ecosystems. The seasons are mainly divided into two main periods. The rainy season from November to March and the dry season from April to October. The length of each period varies from one region to another one.

A holiday in Madagascar is unique, with its rich flora and fauna of such amazing variety and diversity that can be found nowhere else on earth. The warm and friendly people of Madagascar are African and Asian, proud to be from such a racially diverse, culturally rich country.

Madagascar gives rise to its astonishing biological diversity and remarkable scenery. Its of coastline is made up of mangrove reserves, stunning white sandy beaches, crystal clear waters, uninhabited land and coral reef. Madagascar has indeed been geographically blessed.

Baobab tree

Madagascar is often referred to as the eighth continent, made up of endemic flora, fauna and wildlife species. It is most famous for its 50 species of lemurs these bright eyed mammals are often seen along with geckoes and chameleons.

Whale watching season is from July to September when humpback whales come into the St Marie channel to mate and give birth. Take part in the observation and preservation of humpback whales in the Indian Ocean.

It is incredibly unspoilt and offers adventure, beautiful beaches and deserts.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleStreet.com/

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BAOMIX, 泉能有机猴面包树果肉粉

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联 系 人  ：朱先生
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Email     : baomix.cn@gmail.com

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If you travel in the remote deserts of Australia, Africa or Madagascar, you may from time to time spot a solitary tree that looks as if it is growing upside-down, with gnarled roots sitting atop a huge, smooth, trunk.

It is well worth taking a closer look at this oddity, which is one of the oldest and strangest living things on our planet. In keeping with its unusual characteristics, it has a weird-sounding name – the baobab, which is probably derived from a native African language.

It is perhaps an exaggeration to say that baobabs are beautiful. Indeed, many people’s first reaction is to giggle at their strange shapes and proportions. With their massive trunks, crooked branches and furry fruit, baobabs have learned how to adapt to a dry and hostile environment – a capacity we may come to envy as the planet starts to heat up.

Though they rarely exceed 20 metres in height, it is not unusual for the circumference of their trunks to be as much or more: it can often take more than ten people with outstretched arms to circle one tree.

They have no branches on the lower part of their smooth, silvery trunks, making them difficult to climb. Instead a spray of twisted boughs sprouts from the top of the trunk, looking like the unkempt hair of a cartoon character.

Baobabs belong to the genus Adansonia and the family Bombacaceae. There are eight different species in the world, of which six can be found in Madagascar. Three of the most common species grow on the west coast of the island: the fony, the grandidieri, and the za. These names are derived from their physical characteristics, which are bottle shaped, flat-topped or upside-down respectively.

The fony is indeed shaped like a bottle with straight sides tapering at the top. The grandieri, which is usually larger than the fony, spreads its branches at an even height. The za, perhaps the most bizarre of all, looks to all intents and purposes like a tree that has grown upside-down with its roots wriggling about in the air.

The secret of the baobab’s success in surviving in harsh environments and the reason for its massive trunk is that it has little wood fibre but a large water storage capacity. Each tree can hold up to 300 litres of water, enabling it to live through long periods without rain. Their life-cycle is as impressive as their bulk – most live over 500 years and some specimens in Africa are believed to be up to 5000 years old.

Since most baobabs grow in isolation and are susceptible to strong winds, they have deep-penetrating roots that allow them to withstand even the wrath of cyclones. They produce leaves for only a short time during the rainy season, when they also develop huge pink or white flowers.

The trees are pollinated by bats and have a fruit as unique as the tree itself. It has a furry coating around a tough, gourd-like shell that shields a soft pulp inside called ‘monkey bread’ and seeds that are rich in citric acid and oil.

The shape of the fruit may be round or oval, giving it the appearance of a leftover decoration on an abandoned Christmas tree. Yet this fruit is so desirable that Madagascan villagers often punch holes in the tree trunk to climb up to them if the tree is too tall for the fruit to be knocked off from the ground.

As with most trees, the baobab is exploited by man. Apart from consuming its nutritious fruit, people use its leaves for medicine and its bark for cloth and rope. While the wood is too soft for building houses or furniture, it can be used to make paper.

The hollowed-out trunks of dead trees have also been used as prisons, toilets and even as tombs. In some parts of Africa, people believe that poets and musicians are possessed by the devil, and that their bodies will pollute the earth if given a normal burial. Thus they are consigned to the bowels of a baobab.
Baobab legends

The importance and uniqueness of baobabs to the communities living in barren areas has guaranteed them a major role in the world of myths and legends. Just outside Morondava, on the west coast of Madagascar, an enormous specimen called ‘the sacred baobab’ is believed to have sprouted on the exact spot where a princess died about 800 years ago. It is now surrounded by dense growth and only its crown is visible above the thicket.

A little further up the coast, two baobabs nicknamed ‘the lovers’ are entwined around each other in an embrace that has lasted over 600 years. However, the most popular place for baobab spotters is ‘Baobab Alley’, twenty bumpy kilometres north of Morondava.

Baobabs are usually solitary beings, standing tall and proud in the midst of empty spaces. Yet in Baobab Alley, they cluster together forming an avenue of towering columns that border the dirt road, their tortured and twisted tops reflected in the lily-covered pond at the roadside.

The best time to visit these gentle giants is at twilight, when their stark silhouettes form a spectacular contrast to the soft, calming colours of sunset. As the colour fades and lens covers are replaced on cameras, a small group of admirers shuffle reverently away, speaking in hushed tones about this mute yet extremely expressive form of life.

by  www.ronemmons.com

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David Batty, of Bush Mechanics fame, examines the mystery surrounding the origins of the iconic tree of the Kimberley – the Boab.
GEORGE NEGUS: Well, to complete our outback journey tonight, we move away from the Centre to the isolated but magnificent Kimberley and the mystery of the famous baobab tree. No-one’s sure how this resident of Madagascar got here in the first place, although local Aboriginals have always valued them as a source of food, medicine and shelter. Here’s David Batty with his thoughts on the baobab.

DAVID BATTY: On parched Kimberley plains, by weathered track or spring, along the bitumen rivers, there is a tree that’s king. His majesty, the baobab. But why are they here and where did they come from? Even the sharpest mind of a travelling bush mechanic from the desert is stumped. For most visitors to the Kimberley, the baobab tree stands out like an African in an igloo. They sit like ancient prehistoric monoliths amidst a landscape reminiscent of another planet. Their huge bulging trunks, spidery branches and large nuts set them apart from anything else growing in Australia. Tim Willing is a conservation officer and a baobab nut. He’s been sprouting theories about their origins for years.

TIM WILLING, CONSERVATION OFFICER, CALM: It’s a real anomaly, I think, in the Australian flora. They only occur in the Kimberley and Victoria River area of the Northern Territory. So, they’re only up in that one corner of Australia. The species, Adansonia gregorii, is quite distinct. It has a lot features which are different morphologically to all the other species. There’s no question that baobabs are native to Australia and have been here a long time. No question at all.

DAVID BATTY: But the origins of Australia’s only baobab species remains a mystery. How did they come to be here at all when every other member of the baobab family is found thousands of kilometres away in Africa?

TIM WILLING: There have been a few theories. One is that they were around in the Gondwana times when the continents were all joined and that the plants went off on the rafts, if you like, and became part of new continents. But, um, that theory doesn’t really add up because the geological dates don’t fit with the rise of plant species. But it seems much more likely that long-distance dispersal across the Indian Ocean by, um — Probably the ancestral bud would have floated to Australia from, most likely, Madagascar or possibly islands that are now sunken in the Indian Ocean in between Madagascar and Australia. But we don’t have any good data on when baobabs originally arrived in the Kimberley. We have some which are at least 500, probably 1,000 years old.

DAVID BATTY: Bonnie Sampi is an Aboriginal elder who lives in Broome. His people have valued baobab nuts for centuries.

BONNIE SAMPI: Some people used it to help mothers with a newborn baby. They put it in a cup of water, mix it up, drink it like tea.

DAVID BATTY: But these days, Bonnie has found another use for the ancient nuts. He turns them into works of art for sale to tourists.

When Europeans branched out into the Kimberley, the old baobab tree was put to other uses, like the infamous Prison Tree near Derby, which some say housed up to 10 prisoners at a time.

Or this ancient specimen, which was used to mark the exploratory voyage of His Majesty’s cutter the ‘Mermaid’ in 1820. The truth is, nobody really knows how these upside down trees from Africa made it to Australia.

GEORGE NEGUS: Bit of country to go with there. How about that big one at the end? David Batty there on the outback mystery that is the baobab — one of the oldest living things on this continent.

By  www.abc.net.au

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All Baobabs are deciduous trees ranging in height from 5 to 20 meters. 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. 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.

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. Baobabs are very difficult to kill, they can be burnt, or stripped of their bark, and they will just form new bark and carry on growing. When they do die, they simply rot from the inside and suddenly collapse, leaving a heap of fibres, which makes many people think that they don’t die at all, but simply disappear.

An old Baobab tree can create its own ecosystem, as it supports the life of countless creatures, from the largest of mammals to the thousands of tiny creatures scurrying in and out of its crevices. Birds nest in its branches; baboons devour the fruit; bush babies and fruit bats drink the nectar and pollinate the flowers, and elephants have been known to chop down and consume a whole tree.

A Baby Baobab tree looks very different from its adult form and this is why the Bushmen believe that it doesn’t grow like other trees, but suddenly crashes to the ground with a thump, fully grown, and then one day simply disappears. No wonder they are thought of as magic trees.
Flowers and Fruit

The Baobab tree has large whitish flowers which open at night. The fruit, which grows up to a foot long, contains tartaric acid and vitamin C and can either be sucked, or soaked in water to make a refreshing drink.

They can also be roasted and ground up to make a coffee-like drink. The fruit is not the only part of the Baobab that can be used. The bark is pounded to make rope, mats, baskets, paper and cloth; the leaves can be boiled and eaten, and glue can be made from the pollen.
Uses

Fiber from the bark is used to make rope, baskets, cloth, musical instrument strings, and waterproof hats. While stripping the bark from the lower trunk of most trees usually leads to their death, baobabs not only survive this common practice, but they regenerate new bark.

Fresh baobab leaves provide an edible vegetable similar to spinach which is also used medicinally to treat kidney and bladder disease, asthma, insect bites, and several other maladies. The tasty and nutritious fruits and seeds of several species are sought after, while pollen from the African and Australian baobabs is mixed with water to make glue.
Native legends

Along the Zambezi, the tribes believe that when the world was young the Baobabs were upright and proud. However for some unknown reason, they lorded over the lesser growths.The gods became angry and uprooted the Baobabs , thrusting them back into the ground, root upwards. Evil spirits now haunt the sweet white flowers and anyone who picks one will be killed by a lion.

One gigantic baobab in Zambia is said to be haunted by a ghostly python. Before the white man came, a large python lived in the hollow trunk and was worshipped by the local natives. When they prayed for rain, fine crops and good hunting , the python answered their prayers. The first white hunter shot the python and this event led to disastrous consequences. On still nights the natives claim to hear a continuous hissing sound from the old tree.

In the Kafue National Park in Zambia, one of the largest Baobabs is known as ‘Kondanamwali’ – the tree that eats maidens. This enormous tree fell in love with the four beautiful girls who lived in its shade. When they reached puberty, they sought husbands and made the tree jealous.

One night, during a raging thunderstorm, the tree opened its trunk and took the maidens inside. A rest house had been built in the branches of the tree. On stormy nights, it is the crying of the imprisoned maidens that make people inside tremble – not the sounds of the wild animals.

Along the Limpopo, it is believed that when a young boy is washed in water used to soak baobab bark, he will grow up into a big man. Some native beliefs have proven to have a scientific basis. Natives believe that women living in kraals where baobabs are plentiful have more children than those living outside baobab zones. They eat soup made from baobab leaves, which is rich in vitamins. This compensates for any deficiency in their diet. Doctors have confirmed that this indeed brings about a higher fertility rate.

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. It is not surprising that such a strange looking tree should have superstitions linked to it.

Some people believe that if you pick a flower from a Baobab tree you will be eaten by a lion, but if you drink water in which a Baobab’s seeds have been soaked you will be safe from crocodile attack. Certain tribes in the Transvaal wash baby boys in water soaked in the bark of a baobab. Then, like the tree, they will grow up mighty and strong.
Where they are found

Baobabs are widely distributed in belts across Africa. They also grow in Madagascar, India, Ceylon and Australia. They grow in many areas of Zimbabwe. In the Northern Province they are found between the Limpopo and the Zoutpansberg range. Messina is indeed a Baobab town. There is a famous `halfway Baobab’ between Louis Trichardt and Messina, a reservoir from which many have drawn. Baobabs seem to prefer hot,sandy plains.
Latin name :
Adansonia digitata.
By  www.krugerpark.co.za

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The African baobab, Adansonia digitata – the classic wide-trunked tree of the African plains, with its unusual « upside down » silhouette when leafless in winter – is the most famous of this genus of eight species in the kapok family (Bombacaceae – which some scientists now consider to be part of the Malvaceae) named after the French surgeon Michel Adanson (1727-1806). It is the only species native to Africa. It is one of the largest trees in the world, although definitely not one of the tallest, with its impressive, broad trunk that can reach over 15m in diameter. Its sheer size makes it quite conspicuous in the savannah or bushveld (dry woodland). Some of the largest trees have been estimated at over 2,000 years old by carbon-dating; circumference is not a reliable predictor of age, as the conditions it has grown under and the climatic fluctuations of the centuries greatly affect girth. Rainfall influences tree diameter, with the trunk becoming narrower in dry years. The baobab’s trunk is fibrous and saturated with water.

The massive swollen trunk consists of soft spongy wood saturated with water.  The fibrous wood cannot be used for building or firewood, but the bark can be shredded into strands to use as fiber for ropes, baskets, nets, cloth and other uses. Many living trees develop hollow trunks with age, which have been used as homes, storage units, a post office, chapels, prisons or tombs. A tree at Katimo Mulilo, Namibia was converted into a flush toilet, while another near Gravelotte in Limpopo Province, South Africa served as a bar for gold miners.

Native to semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa, it grows up to 80 feet tall and up to 40 feet in diameter.in any rocky, well-drained soil. The smooth grey bark has distinct “folds” covering its immense trunk. The alternate leaves are simple on juvenile plants, but are digitately compound with 3-9 leaflets on mature plants. Young leaves are eaten like spinach or dried for later use by some indigenous peoples.

Adansonia digitata trees, the only remaining native vegetation in sisal fields between Kilifi and
Mombassa, Kenya (L); baobab in leaf (R).

Baobabs first flower when they are about 20 years old. Large, white, slightly scented flowers with purplish stamens are produced in midsummer. A. digitata is the only species in the genus with pendulous flowers. The flowers open at sunset and are pollinated by fruit bats as they feed on the sweet nectar. The flowers only bloom for a short time, dropping to the ground within hours of being pollinated.

The flowers are followed by globose fruits with a hard woody shell covered with short yellowish hair. Inside are hard, kidney-shaped seeds in a powdery, creamy white pulp (from which ‘cream of tartar’ is derived). The pith contains high levels of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), tartaric acid and citric acid and is used in producing a refreshing lemonade-like drink that has been used to treat fevers and diarrhea. Many animals including baboons, monkeys, antelope and elephants, will feed on the fallen fruits and help disperse the seeds. The seeds may be ground to make a coffee-substitute or eaten fresh, and are often fed to cattle or goats, especially near the end of the dry season.
The authors with a baobab in northern
Namibia.

Ecologically, baobabs are very important in the savannah, providing food and shelter for a great variety of animals. All kinds of small birds, squirrels, rodents, lizards, snakes and tree frogs, as well as spiders, scorpions and insects live in the canopy. Red-billed buffalo weavers build their communal nests in baobabs more than any other tree. Other birds such as rollers, hornbills, parrots, kestrels and spinetails nest in holes in the trunk, while barn owls and ground hornbills take advantage of larger cavities. Large stick nests of eagles, vultures and storks are often seen on the outer branches. Elephants are one of the biggest threats to the African baobab, especially in areas with high elephant populations. The animals can easily kill small trees as they tear off pieces of stem for the moisture.

This genus of tropical trees is native to Africa, Australia and Madagascar, but baobabs have been widely planted in other tropical and warmer subtropical areas. A. digitata is native to Africa and Madagascar, while the other species except A. gibbosa are all endemic to Madagascar.

- A. gibbosa (gregorii), the Australian baobab, is small and irregularly shaped, and often has multiple trunks. It is restricted to the northwestern area of Australia.
- A. grandidieri, which occurs near Morombe and Morondava in western Madagascar, may be the best known of the Malagasy baobabs. They are very tall trees with a smooth, cylindrical trunk topped with a flat crown of horizontal branches.
- A. madagascariensis is found in dry or moist forest in the Mahajanga province and in the far north. The trunks of these small to large trees (16-65 feet tall) vary in shape from bottle-like to cylindrical.
- A. perrieri is restricted to a small area near Antsiranana (Diego Suarez) in the far north of Madagascar. It is a medium to tall tree (up to 100 feet tall) with an irregular crown and thick branches, often ascending at 45°. The flowers are white to pale yellow.

- A. rubrostipa (fony) is the smallest of the Malagasy baobabs, usually growing only 12-15 feet tall, but sometimes as much as 60 feet. The bottle-shaped trunk has a distinct constriction beneath the branches. Its flowers are bright yellow to orange yellow.
- A. suarezensis is restricted to a very small area near Antsiranana. These endangered trees grow to 80 feet tall, with a single trunk and horizontal branches in the flat-topped crown. This photogenic species has reddish bark that is particularly dramatic at sunrise. White flowers are followed by long, irregularly-shaped fruit.
- A. za is the most common species in Madagascar, growing in the south, west and northwest. The single trunk grows 15-100 feet tall, with a cylindrical or slightly tapering and swelling shape. Yellow flowers are followed by black, oblong fruit.

Although baobabs will not survive outdoors in the Midwest, they are sometimes grown as a curiosity. Many are amenable to being grown as bonsai specimens. All need well-drained soil and good sunlight, so are best grown in a greenhouse rather than as a houseplant and benefit from moving outside to enjoy thunderstorms and warm summer weather. They all have a well-developed taproot even when young which may necessitate a deeper than normal pot. They do not begin to develop their characteristic trunk shape until much older, however, so will never resemble the classic savannah tree shape when container grown, but frequent tip-pruning will encourage thickening of the trunk.

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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, upside-down tree, and monkey bread tree. The species reach heights of 5 to 30 metres (16 to 98 ft) and trunk diameters of 7 to 11 metres (23 to 36 ft). An African Baobab specimen in Limpopo Province, South Africa, often considered the largest example alive, has a circumference of 47 metres (150 ft) and an average diameter of 15 metres (49 ft).

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.

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.

Beginning in 2008, there has been increasing interest for developing baobab as a nutrient-rich raw material for consumer products.
Species

* Adansonia digitata – African Baobab (western, northeastern, central & southern Africa)
* Adansonia grandidieri – Grandidier’s Baobab (Madagascar)
* Adansonia gregorii (syn. A. gibbosa) – Boab or Australian Baobab (northwest Australia)
* Adansonia madagascariensis – Madagascar Baobab (Madagascar)
* Adansonia perrieri – Perrier’s Baobab (North Madagascar)
* Adansonia rubrostipa (syn. A. fony) – Fony Baobab (Madagascar)
* Adansonia suarezensis – Suarez Baobab (Diego Suarez, Madagascar)
* Adansonia za – Za Baobab (Madagascar)

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 litres (32,000 US gal)) to endure the harsh drought conditions particular to each region. 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. Also known as « sour gourd » or « monkey’s bread », the dry fruit pulp separated from seeds and fibers is eaten directly or mixed into porridge or milk. In Malawi, the fruit pulp is used to make a nutrient-rich juice.

The fruit was once used in the production of tartar sauce. 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.

Culture and myths
Adansonia grandidieri, Madagascar
Adansonia digitata, Tarangire National Park in Tanzania
Baobab in Recife. Possible inspiration for Saint Exupéry

* The national tree of Madagascar.[citation needed]
* 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.
* 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. »
* 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 22 metres (72 ft) high baobab. The tree, which is 47m (155ft) in circumference, is reported to have been carbon dated at over 6,000 years old.
* Baobabs are cited in the The Little Prince as a tree that may « split » a small planet into pieces.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baobab

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学術的に見ると…

バオバブは、キワタ科（bombacaceae）Adansonia 属の樹木です。アフリカ、マダガスカル、オーストラリアに約９種があり、そのうち６～７種がマダガスカルに特有の種類です。マダガスカル最大の樹は幹が直径７ｍ、樹高３０ｍ、樹齢５００年以上に達すると推定されます。学名のAdansonia は、この木の発見者のフランス人植物学者 M.Adanson にちなんでいます。

マダガスカルってどんなところ？

アフリカ大陸の東のインド洋に浮かぶ世界第４の大きな島で、独特な動植物で知られています。ここの住民は、1500年ほど前に東南アジアから移り住んだ人々の子孫と言われており、人口約1200万人の独立国です。米を主食とし、水田のある風景は“アフリカの中のアジア”という表現がピッタリです。

バオバブの木は何かの役に立つの？

バオバブの木は、その姿が人を感動させるだけでなく、とても役に立つ木です。果実の中の甘酸っぱいパルプ質の果肉がお菓子や清涼飲料水に、堅い果実の殻は容器に利用されます。マダガスカルでは地方によって種子から油を採り、樹皮を家の屋根や壁に用いたりロープの材料や薬にします。アフリカでは葉を乾燥して粉にし、野菜のない季節の保存食品とします。変わった使い方として、生きた木の幹をくりぬいて貯水タンクにしたり（マダガスカル南東部）、自然にできた木のウロをお墓（アフリカ）や、牢屋（オーストラリア）にする例があります。

バオバブの木はなぜ絶滅の心配があるの？

バオバブはもともと森の中に生える木です。放牧地の開発などで森が焼き払われた時、火に強いバオバブの木は生き残り、草原にバオバブだけがそびえ立つ景色となります。その景色はすばらしく、感動的でさえあるのですが、このような草原では種子が稔っても若木が育つことはなくなり、老木が死に絶えると絶滅することになるのです。マダガスカルでは今、このような状況がどんどん進行しています。

どんな方法でバオバブの木を保護するの？

バオバブの木を保護するには、バオバブが生える森をそっくり保護するのが一番です。しかし、すでに森が荒れている所も多いのが現状です。そのような場所では森を復元し、そこにバオバブの苗木を植えてゆくことが望まれます。森の中なら、やがて植えたバオバブが大きくなって果実を稔らせ、その種子からまた新しい若木が育っていくことが期待できるのです。

「バオバブの木 里親」基金とは、どのような基金ですか？

マダガスカル南部で取り組んでいる活動は、失われ行く貴重な森とそこに生きる動植物を、森の恵みで生活する人たち自身の力で守ってゆくことを目指しています。この基金は、バオバブの苗木の里親となられる方々からの募金を、現地育苗センターへの整備、荒れ果てた森を元に戻すための苗木作りと植え込み、森とその資源を守るための子供たちへの教育、地元住民の生活環境の改善、自然観察ガイド養成と貴重な動植物の保護などに役立たせていただこうとする資金です。

里親にはどのような役割や特典があるのですか？

* お申し込みとご送金次第、本会本部と現地事務所に里親として登録し、本部より領収書と関係資料をお送りします。また、現地に植え込んだ苗が活着したことが確認された後に、現地から感謝状が送付されます。
* 里親に代わり、現地スタッフが種子から育てたバオバブの苗木を募金一口につき１本、現地の自然林復元予定地に植え込みます。
* 現地に行きバオバブの苗をご自分で記念植樹することもできますので、その際は本会本部にご連絡ください。旅費その他の経費はご自分の負担となります。
* 現地に設置した記念碑の芳名板に、里親のお名前を刻みます。
* 植えられた苗木の世話は、里親に代わって現地スタッフが行ないます。
* バオバブの現地産種子と「育て方の手引き」をお送りします。記念として残されるのも、播いて苗木をお育てになるのもご自由です。なお、ご自分で育てられたバオバブの苗木を国内で記念植樹ご希望の場合は、本会本部にご相談ください。

里親に期限はあるのですか？

マダガスカルの自然と「バオバブの木」を愛するかぎり、里親として資格に期限はありません。 　バオバブの寿命は数百年から数千年以上と言われ、親の資格はバオバブと共に生き続けます。本会は、少なくとも活動地の森が「自然林保全モデル地区」としてマダガスカル政府の指定を受け、皆様のバオバブの木が末長く育ち続ける環境が整うまで活動を続けます。

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バオバブ

バオバブ（英名：Baobab、学名：Adansonia）はアオイ目アオイ科（クロンキスト体系や新エングラー体系ではパンヤ科）バオバブ属の総称のこと。

学名はA. digitataを報告した仏人自然学者Michel Adansonの名に由来する。原生種がマダガスカルに6種、オーストラリアとアフリカに1種ずつ存在する。
サバンナ地帯に多く分布する。幹は徳利のような形をしており、高さは約20メートル、直径は約10メートルに及ぶ。最大のものは南アフリカのリンポポにある高さ47m、直径15mである。年輪が無いため樹齢を知ることは難しいが、数千年に達すると言われ、放射性年代測定は可能である。中は空洞になることが多い。葉は幹の上部につき、乾季に落葉する。花は白色で大きい。果実はヘチマのように垂れ下がり、堅い。果肉は食用・調味料とされ、セネガルでは「サルのパン」と呼ばれる。ビタミンCがオレンジより多く、カルシウムも牛乳より多いと言われる。また、若葉を野菜として利用する。樹皮は煎じて解熱剤に用いられる[1]。

その独特の樹型から、悪魔が大木を引き抜いて、逆さまに突っ込んだといわれている。 サン・テグジュペリの『星の王子さま』では、星を破壊する巨木として描かれている。浜名湖花博において日本では初めて屋外で開花した。

120klもの水分を幹にたくわえており、乾季になると葉を落とし休眠する。休眠中はその水分で生きのびる。 バオバブは観葉植物にもなり、盆栽型に仕立てることもできる。

また、このタネは、オランウータンに一度食べられ排泄された物でないと発芽しないと言われていた。

japan japon 日本

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