The Baobabs: Pachycauls of Africa, Madagascar and AustraliaAlthough Alexander von Humboldt never saw a baobab, he wrote: ‘Among organic creatures, this tree [Dracaena draco (dragon tree)] is undoubtedly, together with the Adansonia or baobab of Senegal, one of the oldest inhabitants of our planet’ (Humboldt 1852). With their enormous size, distinctive and often grotesque appearance, and great age (measured perhaps in thousands of years), baobab trees attract the attention of botanists, amateurs, tourists and passers-by wherever they grow. Old specimens display highly individual, photogenic characteristics which endear them to local people, artists and photographers. European knowledge of the African baobab dates back to Renaissance times. I first became acquainted with the African baobab in 1952 while working in what was then Sokoto Province, Northern Nigeria. Later I worked in the former Rhodesias (now Zambia and Zimbabwe) and in the Sudan, and was able to further my studies. Although I have written about the African baobab, it was Pat Lowe who, in January 2000, persuaded me that we should pool our knowledge and ex- riences and write a book on all eight species of this outstanding genus. While I take full responsibility for the final text, I have taken advantage of her knowledge of baobabs in Africa, Madagascar and especially Australia, and of her constructive criticism of the text. |
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Page 12
... powdered pulp was the medicinal earth terra lemnia and was probably responsible for Gerber (1895) and other authors suggesting that the pulp was being fraudulently used as a substitute for terra lemnia. The text relating to the bahobab ...
... powdered pulp was the medicinal earth terra lemnia and was probably responsible for Gerber (1895) and other authors suggesting that the pulp was being fraudulently used as a substitute for terra lemnia. The text relating to the bahobab ...
Page 13
... powdered fruit pulp was exported to Europe. However, there is no positive evidence that baobab pulp was ever fraudulently used as a substitute for terra lemnia (Loret and Poisson 1855), although it might be suspected. It was the custom ...
... powdered fruit pulp was exported to Europe. However, there is no positive evidence that baobab pulp was ever fraudulently used as a substitute for terra lemnia (Loret and Poisson 1855), although it might be suspected. It was the custom ...
Page 51
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Contents
1 | |
Wickens_Ch02pdf | 31 |
Wickens_Ch03pdf | 49 |
Wickens_Ch04pdf | 67 |
Wickens_Ch05pdf | 81 |
Wickens_Ch06pdf | 101 |
Wickens_Ch07pdf | 125 |
Wickens_Ch08pdf | 139 |
Wickens_Ch13pdf | 264 |
Wickens_Ch14pdf | 307 |
Wickens_Ch15pdf | 331 |
Wickens_App1pdf | 337 |
Wickens_App2pdf | 368 |
Wickens_App3pdf | 376 |
Wickens_App4pdf | 393 |
Wickens_Refspdf | 397 |
Wickens_Ch09pdf | 203 |
Wickens_Ch10pdf | 227 |
Wickens_Ch11pdf | 237 |
Wickens_Ch12pdf | 245 |
Wickens_Taxonomic Indexespdf | 453 |
Wickens_Subject Indexpdf | 469 |
Wickens_Gazetteerpdf | 484 |
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Common terms and phrases
acid Adam Adansonia digitata Africa annual appear associated Australia baobab baobab fruit bark base bats Baum believed boab Botanic branches central century Chapter climate coast collected considered contain Current diameter differences distribution early East effect et al extract feed fibres flowers forest fruit fruit pulp further Garden germination grandidieri gregorii ground growing growth height important increase India island known land later leaf leaves less Lowe Madagascar madagascariensis measurements natural Nigeria northern noted observed occur original Perrier personal communication plants Plate Pleistocene pollination population possible present produced pulp rainfall recorded region reported River roots rubrostipa season seeds Senegal showed similar soils South southern species Sudan suggested Table Tanzania treated tree trunk usually vegetation visits West western White widely wood woodland young
Popular passages
Page 428 - Geographical Historie of Africa, written in Arabicke and Italian, by John Leo, a More, borne in Granada, and brought up in Barbarie . . . Translated and collected by John Pory, late of Gonevill and Cais College.
Page 2 - When autumn came, they went ashore, wherever they might happen to be, and having sown a tract of land with corn, waited until the grain was fit to cut.
Page 7 - ... the country. Concerning the size of these, I may say that, at a spring near the river bank from which we drew water, there was a very great and broad tree; its height, however, was not in proportion to its size, for while we judged it to be about 20 paces high we found the girth by measurement to be about seventeen paces round the foot. It was hollow in many places, and its branches were very large so that they threw a deep shade around1. There are to be found even larger trees, so that from...
Page 451 - MUELLER.— THE ORGANIC CONSTITUENTS OF PLANTS AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, and their Chemical Analysis.
Page 436 - Charles-Dominique, P.; Cooper, HM; Hladik, A.; Hladik, CM; Pages, E.; Pariente, GF; Petter-Rousseaux, A.; Petter, JJ; and Schilling, A., eds.
Page 33 - There, towering over all, stands the great burly baobab, each of whose enormous arms would form the trunk of a large tree, beside groups of graceful palms, which, with their feathery-shaped leaves depicted on the sky, lend their beauty to the scene. As a hieroglyphic they always mean " far from home," for one can never get over their foreign air in a picture or landscape.
Page 234 - Endangered when it is not Critically Endangered but is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future, as defined by any of the criteria (A to E) on page 276. VULNERABLE (VU) A taxon is Vulnerable when it is not Critically Endangered...
Page 442 - Walker, BH (1998) Carbon and nitrogen isotope discrimination and nitrogen nutrition of trees along a rainfall gradient in northern Australia.
Page 33 - ... witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight.
Page 112 - ... along the surface of the ground forty or fifty yards from the trunk, also retain their vitality after the tree is laid low ; and the Portuguese now know that the best way to treat them is to let them alone, for they occupy much more room when cut down than when growing. The wood is so spongy and soft that an axe can be struck in so far with a good blow that there is great difficulty in pulling it out again. In the dead mowana mentioned the concentric rings were well seen. The average for a foot...