AUTHOR R. ANN SIRACUSA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . It isn't the destination that matters -- It's the journey that counts!
Contact me!
  • HOME
  • BLOG
  • BOOKS
    • All For A Dead Man's Leg
    • All For A Fist Full Of Ashes
    • Destruction Of The Great Wall
    • All For Spilled Blood
    • First Date
    • Halloween In The Catacombs
    • All In The Game
    • Family Secrets: A Vengeance of Tears
  • ABOUT ME
    • Resume
  • PHOTO ALBUMS
  • RESOURCES
  • MY ORGANIZATONS
  • BLOGS ABOUT ANN
  • Blog

HERE COMES THE BAOBAB

12/9/2016

0 Comments

 
​The Baobab is a kind of tree … but a very unique one. Among the millions of species of trees on the planet, there is nothing quite like the Baobab.
​
In the cultures which evolved in locations where the Baobab grows, it is not just a tree, but a sacred link to the past and an essential part of the cultures where it grows, a symbol of strength, wisdom, health, long life, and beauty. 


THE AFRICAN UPSIDE-DOWN TREE


Picture
​Of the eight species of the genus Adansonia – You really needed to know that, right? -- six are native to Madagascar, one to the African and Arab peninsula, and one to Australia. They can live to be thousands of years old and have a peculiar, massive, bottle-shaped trunk and sparse foliage. The branches look like spread out like roots, hence the names "upside-down tree".

Every part of the tree can be used, which the primary reason it is called the tree of life. It's fruit, bark, roots, and wood provide innumerable products used by the native African peoples for thousands of years. Food, red dye, Vitamin C, medicine, rope and strings for musical instruments. Canoes are carved from the wood. The list goes on and on.

A
ND A PARTRIDGE IN A BAOBAB TREE

Just to tie this blog in with the season, the Baobab in southern Africa has, to some extent, replaced the pine Christmas tree in shopping centers and home decorations.

THE LEGEND
Africa abounds with legends about the baobab. According to Baobab.com, this is one of the most common.
Picture
​"A very, very long time ago, say some African legends, the first baobab sprouted beside a small lake. As it grew taller and looked about, it spied other trees and noted their colorful flowers, straight and handsome trunks, and large leaves. Then one day, the wind died away leaving the water smooth as a mirror, and the tree finally got to see itself.  The reflected imaged shocked it to its root hairs. Its own flowers lacked bright color, its leaves were tiny, it was grossly fat, and its bark resembled the wrinkled hide of an old elephant.

In a strongly worded invocation to the creator, the baobab complained about the bad deal it'd been given. This impertinence had no effect: Following a hasty reconsideration, the deity felt fully satisfied. Relishing the fact that some organisms were purposefully less than perfect, the creator demanded to know whether the baobab found the hippopotamus beautiful, or the hyena's cry pleasant, and then retired in a huff behind the clouds.

But back on earth, the barrel-chested whiner neither stopped peering at its reflection nor raising its voice in protest. Finally, an exasperated creator returned from the sky, seized the ingrate by the trunk, yanked it from the ground, turned it over, and replanted it upside-down.
​
And from that day since, the baobab has been unable to see its reflection or make complaint. For thousands of years, it has worked strictly in silence, paying off its ancient transgression by doing good deed for people."

The above left baobab (Zimbabwe) shows the shape that generated the name upside-down tree. Most are small to moderate sized, but they can develop a huge trunk, as in the next photo. These are mostly hollow, big enough to use for housing, chapels, barns, shops, bus shelters, post boxes, burial sites, wells, flush lavatories, and prisons. In Queensland, Australia, one served as the town prison.

Most of the trunks I saw weren't anywhere the girth of the tree in the photo above, and some of the African baobab don't get that tall. I took the photo on the right in the rainforest next to Victoria Falls.


IT'S DIFFERENT IN MADAGASCAR
There are six different species of baobab tree, some of which are very different from their African neighbors. Take a look at the photos of the below of the Giant Madagascar Baobab, and you'll understand my apology. This is where the 90 to 100 feet in height kicks in.

There are six different species of baobab tree, some of which are very different than the African variety. Take a look at the photos and you'll understand my apology. This is where the 90 to 100 feet in height kicks in. Below are Giant Madagascar Baobab.


Some of the shorter species account for the name "bottle tree" because of the shape and appearance of the trunk but, in fact, because the hollowed trunks, they serve as water reservoirs during dry spells. They can store up to 32,000 gallons.

All species have trunks which are mostly hollow and rely on a system of hydraulic pressure to stay upright. The wood is porous and retains water, the extensive root system remains close to the surface for better water absorption.
They look otherworldly, don't they? Maybe Madagascar should go on my bucket list.

Resources

http://amazinglist.net/2013/03/baobab-tree-adansonia-gregorii/http://baobab-tree-of-life.blogspot.com/2010/04/antioxidant-baobab.html
http://baobab-tree-of-life.blogspot.com/2010/04/legends-of-baobab-tree.html
http://www.ehow.com/info_8219711_baobab-tree.html
http://www.baobab.com/baobab-fruit-pulp/legends-of-the-baobab-tree/
http://www.baobab.com/baobab-fruit-pulp/the-baobab-tree-in-african-landscape/
http://www.baobabppc.org.za/home/item/1-myths-legends
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977821078




0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author R. Ann Siracusa

    Novelist, retired architect and urban planner, world traveler, quilter, owl collector, devoted wife-mother-grandmother, great-grandmother, and, according to some, wild-assed liberal.

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    February 2025
    November 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    November 2015
    February 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All
    Africa
    Baboons
    Bagpipes
    Halloween
    Mopane-Mopani Worms
    Saint Patrick
    Samhain
    Shamrock
    Snakes
    Travel
    Veterans Day

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly