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Baobab

Adansonia digitata

Photo by Dan Doucette
Published on Project Noah
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9.62971, -1.75388

Field Notes

Description:

The trees usually grow as solitary individuals, and are large and distinctive trees on the savannah, in the scrub, and near settled areas, with some large individuals living to well over a thousand years of age. The tree bears very large, heavy, white flowers. The showy flowers are pendulous with a very large number of stamens. They carry a carrion scent and researchers have shown that they appear to be primarily pollinated by fruit bats of the subfamily Pteropodinae. The fruits are filled with pulp that dries, hardens, and falls to pieces which look like chunks of powdery, dry bread.

Habitat:

Most widespread of the Adansonia species on the African continent, found in the hot, dry savannahs of sub-Saharan Africa. It also grows, having spread secondary to cultivation, in populated areas.

Notes:

I spotted this fairly small but really fat trunked Baobab outside of Larabanga Mosque just near Mole National Park. The mud and stick built mosque is Ghana's oldest and is said to date from 1421.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (3)

You're probably right Larry, it could be that old. Did you see this one? It's 1000 years old. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/6055111
It could have been planted there when they finished the mosque!
Photographed
PublishedOctober 1, 2011

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