Adansonia digitata L.
Baobab, dead-rat tree, monkey-bread tree, upside-down tree
Baobabs are widespread in the non-desert regions of Africa, where their large size and distinctive shape makes them iconic against the grasslands in which they most commonly grow. Baobabs are also found in parts of Oman, Yemen, Asia, and India. They are not found in the wild in North America.
Plants: Deciduous, up to 82′ (25 m) in height. They develop elephantine trunks that can reach an amazing 92′ (28 m) in diameter. They are uneven, sometimes suggestive of rippling muscles, and tapering. The common name “upside-down tree” refers to the branches’ resemblance to roots, and a folk tale that God planted them upside-down. Bark is extremely thick, 1¾–4″ (5–10 cm), gray-brown, usually smooth, though increasingly uneven with age.
Leaves: Young leaves are unlobed, becoming palmately compound with 5 to 7 leaflets in mature trees.
Flowers: Flowers are large, white, up to 8″ (20 cm) around, and pendulous. They smell like carrion, which attracts their chief pollinators, fruit bats. (If you’re wondering why fruit bats would be attracted to the smell of carrion, well ... so am I.)
Fruits: Fruits are egg-shaped capsules 4½″ (12 cm) long, with woody outer shells.
Habitats: Dry, hot African savannas, outside of the Sahara desert.
Online References:
3/13/2011 · Ntwetwe Pans, Gweta, Botswana · By Benjamin Winslow 
3/13/2011 · Ntwetwe Pans, Gweta, Botswana · By Benjamin Winslow 
This is “Chapman’s Baobab”—a famous specimen believed to be 4200 years old. · 3/14/2011 · Ntwetwe Pans, Gweta, Botswana · By Benjamin Winslow 
2/15/1989 · Buffalo Springs, Kenya · By Constance B. Kent 
3/13/2011 · Ntwetwe Pans, Gweta, Botswana · By Benjamin Winslow 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves |
| Subclass | Rosidae | Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more |
| Order | Malvales | Includes cacao, balsa, lime, linden, basswood, daphnes, hibiscus, hollyhocks, okra, baobab, cotton, kapok, and many others |
| Family | Malvaceae | Includes okra, jute, cacao, hibiscus, many others |
| Genus | Adansonia | Named for French surgeon Michel Adanson |
| Species | digitata | Means “hand-like,” because of the leaf shape |
Adansonia digitata description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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