Trees with fibrous and fleshy trunks, sometimes attaining a very large girth
Leaves alternate, simple on seedlings, digitately 3-9-foliolate on more mature plants; leaflets entire; stipules present
Flowers ± regular, bisexual, usually solitary, large, pendulous; large bracts and bracteoles usually present
Calyx leathery, 5-segmented or -lobed, valvate in bud
Petals 5, adhering to base of staminal tube, large and crinkled
Stamens many, united into a tube below; anthers reniform, 1-thecous, opening by longitudinal slits; pollen smooth
Ovary superior, 5-10-locular, with many axile ovules in each locule; style simple; stigma 5-10-lobed
Fruit indehiscent, woody
Seeds many, embedded in dry, white pulp
x = 8 (high polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Adansonia L.
Linnaeus: 1190 (1753)
Wild: 512 (1961)
Baum: 440 (1995)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species 8, in 3 sections, tropical Africa, Madagascar and Australia, but dispersed widely by humans
Southern Africa: Species 1: Adansonia digitata L., the Baobab, Namibia, Botswana, Northern Province, North-West and Mpumalanga, rarely south of the Soutpansberg, except in cultivation
References:
BAUM, D.A. 1995. A systematic revision of Adansonia (Bombacaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 82
LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
WILD, H. 1961. Bombacaceae. Flora zambesiaca 1
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
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In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
