Baobab
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| African Baobab | |||||||||||||
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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).This tree is the National Tree of Madagascar.
Other common names include boab, boaboa, bottle tree,the tree of life, 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). Its trunk can hold up to 120,000 litres of water.
The Baobab Tree is also known as the tree of life, with good reason. It can provide shelter, clothing, food, and water for the animal and human inhabitants of the African Savannah regions. The cork-like bark and huge stem are fire resistant and are used for making cloth and rope. The leaves are used as condiments and medicines. The fruit, called "monkey bread", is edible, and full of Vitamin C. The tree can store hundreds of litres of water, which is tapped in dry periods.[source?] Mature trees are usually hollow, providing living space for many animals and humans.[source?] Trees are even used as bars, barns, wine and beer shops and more.[source?] Radio-carbon dating has measured that age of some Baobab trees at over 2,000 years old. For most of the year, the tree is leafless, and looks very much like it has its roots sticking up in the air.
[change] Legends
There are numerous legends offering explanations of how the tree came to be stuffed in the ground upside down, so it could no longer complain. Some of the myths are:
The Bushmen believed that goings-on in the baobab so offended God that in his wrath he uprooted it and cast it back into the earth upside-down.
It is said that if you drink its sap you will receive protection from the crafty crocodile; but do not pluck its flowers, for whosoever does so will be torn apart by lions!
It is also claimed that on the day of creation, each animal was given a tree to plant and that the hyena planted the baobab upside-down and, as a result, it should never have grown. But grow it did, and today baobabs dot the Limpopo landscape, in Africa.
