Adansonia grandidieri

Adansonia grandidieri is the biggest and most famous of Madagascar's six species of baobabs. It is sometimes known as Grandidier's baobab or the giant baobab. In French it is called Baobab malgache. The local name is renala or reniala (from Malagasy: reny ala, meaning "mother of the forest"). This tree is endemic to the island of Madagascar, where it is an endangered species threatened by the encroachment of agricultural land. This is the tree found at the Avenue of the Baobabs.

Description

A large deciduous tree. It grows 30 m tall. It has a very large pole like trunk. It has only a few, short, stubby branches. It is bare of leaves for most of the year. It develops leaves during times of rain. The leaves have 5 small leaflets which are wavy at the edges. The flowers are small, erect and white. The seeds are large and oily.

Edible Uses

This is the most widely used of the Malagasy baobabs. The seeds and the vitamin C-rich fruit pulp are eaten fresh, and cooking oil is extracted from the oil-rich seeds. The fruit is either collected from the ground, or wooden pegs are hammered into the trunk so the tree can be climbed to collect the fruit. The thick bark of the baobab is composed of tough long fibers that can be used to make ropes, and the majority of trees bear scars from where the bark was cut from ground level to about two meters to obtain this material. The spongy wood consists of sheets of fibre that are collected from dead or living trees, dried in the sun and sold for thatch. Most of these varied uses do not involve the tree being killed, and thus are unlikely to pose a great threat to the baobab.

Traditional Uses

The young leaves and fruit are eaten. The fruit pulp and seeds are eaten fresh. A cooking oil is extracted from the seeds.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Distribution

It only grows naturally in western Madagascar. It suits hardiness zones 10-12. In Brisbane Botanical Gardens.

Where It Grows

Africa, Asia, Australia, East Africa, Indochina, Madagascar, SE Asia, Vietnam,

Cultivation

Plants are grown from seeds.

Other Uses

The fibrous bark of mature trees is found in a layer up to 15cm wide on the tree. It is used for making rope, particularly for use in canoes. To obtain the bark for rope-making, the bark is cut from ground level up to about 2 metres high. The scar persists but new bark regenerates over the damaged parts. A fixed oil obtained from the seed is used as an ingredient in commercial cosmetic preparations as a humectant, skin protector and conditioner, hair conditioner. The wood is spongy and moisture-rich, comprising concentric sheets of fibre that probably correspond to annual growth rings. Dried sheets of wood have been used as thatch. To obtain wood for use in thatching, trees are felled and sheets of fibrous wood are peeled from the bole and dried in the sun.

Production

Early growth is fast.

Notes

The seeds contain 37 % edible oil but this oil contains fatty acids which should not be eaten in large quantities. There are 6-8 Adansonia species. Also put in the family Bombacaceae. In the subfamily Bombacoideae.

Also Known As

Bao-bap, Baobab malgache, Grandidier's boabab, Renala, Reniala, Renibeala

References (14)

• Ambrose-Oji, B. & Mughogho, N., 2007. Adansonia grandidieri Baill. [Internet] Record from Protabase. van der Vossen, H.A.M. & Mkamilo, G.S. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. < http://database.prota.org/search.htm>. Accessed 13 October 2009.
• Barwick, M., 2004, Tropical and Subtropical Trees. A Worldwide Encyclopedic Guide. Thames and Hudson p 8
• Bircher, A. G. & Bircher, W. H., 2000, Encyclopedia of Fruit Trees and Edible Flowering Plants in Egypt and the Subtropics. AUC Press. p 10
• Etherington, K., & Imwold, D., (Eds), 2001, Botanica's Trees & Shrubs. The illustrated A-Z of over 8500 trees and shrubs. Random House, Australia. p 75
• FAO, 1988, Traditional Food Plants, FAO Food and Nutrition Paper 42. FAO Rome p 67

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