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Think of the devil!

The African baobab is a magnificent, yet weird-looking tree

MASSIVE TRUNK The baobab tree; (right) its fruit and flower

The African baobab tree is one of the plant kingdom’s weirdest and strangest of wonders. Its massive trunk makes it not only magnificent but also an attention-grabbing specimen. The hollow trunk of the tree has been used for storing water, up t o a capacity of 7,500 litres.

Baobab is a deciduous tree, losing its leaves that are palmately compound during the dry season, which is almost for a period of nine months in a year. At the end of which, it blooms with large, white flowers that have waxy crinkled petals hanging down on long stalks. The flowers open only at night and are pollinated by bats feeding on the nectar. The pendant fruits are velvety, grey and gourd-like, about a foot long, and apparently look like dead rats hanging by their tails from the tree. Therefore, the baobab is popularly known as the Dead-Rat Tree. The fruits are filled with pulp that dries, hardens and falls to pieces like chunks of powdery, dry bread.

Also known as Bottle Tree, upside-down tree and Devil’s Tree, the baobab has many legends and superstitions associated with it. The Arabian legend of the baobab is that “the devil uprooted it and thrust its branches into the earth, thus leaving its roots in the air.” It is also known as the Judas Fruit, because it has 30 seeds (Scripture states that Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver). Baobab is also known as the “Tree of Life” as popularised by Walt Disney in the famous movie, “The Lion King.”

The baobab’s botanical name is Adansonia digitata and belongs to the family Bombacaceae. The genus name Adansonia honours the French naturalist Michael Adanson. The specific epithet digitata refers to the fingers of a hand that alludes to the five leaflets of its leaves.

In Africa, the young leaves of baobab are eaten as a vegetable and also used in the treatment of inflammation, asthma, kidney disorder and diarrhoea.

The nutritious pulp within the fruit, referred to as ‘monkey bread’ is used in making gruel or a lemonade-like refreshing drink. The seeds are eaten either raw or roasted and are used to thicken and flavour soup. In coastal Kenya and Tanzania the pulp with seeds are coloured, sugar coated and sold as sweets. In Malawi, baobab juice called ‘dambedza’ is served to overcome hangovers. Hollow trees are also used as tombs, prisons, stables, storage rooms, shelters and as watchtowers. Dugout canoes are carved from the massive trunks of baobab trees.

PAULINE DEBORAH &
RIDLING WALLER

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