Baobab, Adansonia digitata L.

The African baobab and its related species belong to the family Bombacaceae and the genus Adansonia. Adansoniais a member of the tribe Adansonieae, or Bombaceae, depending on the taxonomic treatment, and however natural or not these groupings are, almost certainly the genus is monophyletic. The tribe, which is pantropical, includes Bombax and Ceibawith species producing fruit fibres used as kapok. Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaetrn. is cultivated in West Africa and Asia. The family includes about 30 genera, six tribes and about 250 species. A number of these species are used locally for wood, fruits, seeds or gum but few are economically important. The family does include economically-important species, such as the durian fruit, Durio zibethinus Murr. of tropical Asia; and balsa wood, species of Ochroma, of South and Central America; as well as the African baobab. The distribution of the individual genera of Adansonieae includes those mainly found in tropical America, one Asian e.g. Bombax, and some like Adansonia that are essentially African but with representation in Australia. The species of the tribe are usually trees, often having swollen trunks, and producing a staminal tube or androphore in the flower as well as having stipulate, usually palmately compound leaves. The genera of the family show a truncate calyx – except for Adansonia, which is typified by the calyx totally enclosing the buds. Adansonia also possesses a unique fruit type with a woody pericarp surrounding a spongy pulp with reniform seeds

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