Imbondeiro(Baobab) Tree

We see these trees everywhere. I haven't had a chance to take a picture of one myself but I will before we leave Angola for sure. 


Symbolic of the continent itself, the Baobab is also known as the Tree of Life because mature trees can create their own ecosystem providing shelter, food and water for both animals and humans in the African savanna.

Many legends go along the Baobab tree. Among villages in the Zambezi Valley it is believed that when the world was young the Baobabs were upright and proud. However, for some unknown reason they lorded over the lesser growths. The Gods then became angry and uprooted the Baobabs, thrusting them back to the ground where they landed upside down but continued to grow. Evil spirits are now said to haunt the sweet white flowers and anyone who picks one will be eaten by a lion. Drink water in which the tree’s seeds have been soaked though, and you will be safe from a crocodile attack!

In other parts of Africa, the Baobab is known as "upside-down tree" and the legend claims that the devil pulled out the tree and planted it upside down. This is likely derived from older African lore. The story goes that after creation, each of the animals was given a tree to plant and the hyena planted the baobab upside-down.

Imbondeiro is the Angolan/Portuguese name for this tree and Baobab is the common name of a genus (adansonia) comprising eight species, six native to Madagascar, one to main land Africa and another one to Australia.

The Adansonia digitata, African Baobab, is native to much of Africa, from the dry sub-Saharan scrub to the grassy savannas of South Africa.

The African baobab tree is one of the plant kingdom's strangest (if not most grotesque) wonders. The tree is not particularly tall with heights varying between 5 and 25m, but the trunk is massive and can be as much as 11 meters in diameter and is shaped like a bottle. The trunk is in fact used to store water, with the capacity to store up to 120,000 liters of water to endure the harsh drought.

The leaves are clustered at the ends of short, stocky branches. Baobab is a deciduous tree, losing its leaves in the dry season. At the end of the dry season, the baobab blooms with large white flowers that hang down on long stalks. The flowers have waxy petals and dense clusters of purple stamens that look like powder puffs. The pendant fruits are velvet covered, gray and gourd like, about a foot long. In here you can see pictures of the flower and fruit.

Some are reputed to be many hundred of years old like the one in the main posting (according to the guide it is believed to be more than 1000 years old), though as the wood does not produce annual growth rings, this is impossible to verify. Few botanists give any credibility to these claims of extreme age, with current evidence suggesting they rarely exceed 400 years old.

References:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baobab
www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/environment/beautiful_baobab.htm
http://www.floridata.com/ref/A/adan_dig.cfm
ww.floridata.com/ref/A/adan_dig.cfm