Amazing Trees

 African Baobab Tree

Scientific Classification

Scientific Name -  Adansonia digitata

Domain               - Eukaryota

Kingdom             - Plantae

Phylum                - Tracheophyta

Class                     - Magnoliopsida

Order                   - Malvales

Family                 - Malvaceae

Genus                  - Adansonia

Species                - A.digitata  

Adansonia digitata, the African baobab, is the most widespread tree species of the genus Adansonia, the baobabs, and is native to the African continent and the Southern Arabian Peninsula. Baobab trees grow in 32 African countries.

Deciduous tree, leafs out during the period of maximum heat just before the first rain arrive in a tropical environment. It may grow to  65ft ( 20m ) high, with a massive trunk that is cylindrical, tapering, bottle-shaped or irregular; with a bare lower part. The African baobab tree ( Adansonia digitata ) is the oldest living flowering plant, or angiosperm, and is found in the continent's tropical regions. Individuals trees which can contain up to 500 cubic metres of wood can live for more than 2,000 years.

Though baobab has a good nutritional value and it's consumption is considered beneficial, there are certain downsides to it, such as: the seeds and pulp contain certain antrinutrients, especially phytates, tannins, and oxalic acid, which interfere with and seduce the absorption of nutrients.

The various parts of the plant ( leaves, bark and seeds ) are used as a panacea, that is, to treat almost any disease and specific document uses include the treatment of malaria, tuberculosis, fever, microbial, infections, diarrhoea, anaemia, dysentery, toothache, etc.

It is a succulent, which means that during the rainy season it absorbs and stores water in it's vast trunk, enabling it to produce a nutrient-dense fruit in the dry season when all around is dry and arid. This is how it became known as " The Tree of Life ".  

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