Adansonia grandidieri
Adansonia grandidieri | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Malvales |
Family: | Malvaceae |
Genus: | Adansonia |
Species: | A. grandidieri
|
Binomial name | |
Adansonia grandidieri Baill., 1888
|
Adansonia grandidieri is the biggest and most famous of Madagascar's six species of baobabs. It is sometimes known as Grandidier's baobab or the giant baobab. In French it is called Baobab malgache. The local name is renala or reniala (from Malagasy: reny ala, meaning "mother of the forest").[3][4] This tree is endemic to the island of Madagascar, where it is an endangered species threatened by the encroachment of agricultural land. This is the tree found at the Avenue of the Baobabs.
Description
Grandidier's baobabs have massive, cylindrical, thick trunks, up to three meters across, covered with smooth, reddish-grey bark.[5] They can reach 25 to 30 m (82 to 98 ft) in height.[6] The crown is flat-topped, with horizontal main branches.
Leaves
Leaves are
Flowers
Flowering occurs during the dry season, from May to August, before leaves appear. Buds are erect, rounded and dark brown.[5] The flowers are made up of 5 (sometimes 3) calyx lobes that are bent back and twisted at the base of the flower. The lobes are fused at the base forming an open cup about 1 cm deep. Petals are white, aging to yellow, up to 20 mm long and about 5 times as long as broad. The flowers have a white central tube (staminal tube) that is up to 16 mm long and is made up of fused stalks of stamens (filaments). 600 – 700 unfused filaments up to 6.5 cm long spread out from the top of the staminal tube. A densely hairy ovary is enclosed in the staminal tube, and a long style tipped with a white or pinkish stigma emerges from the filaments.
Fruits and seeds
The fruits are large, dry and rounded to ovoid. They have a hard shell 2 – 4.5 mm thick and are covered with dense reddish-brown hairs. They contain large (12-20 mm long) kidney-shaped seeds[5] within an edible pulp.[7]
Range and habitat
This baobab occurs in south-western Madagascar, between
Life cycle and ecology
The long-lived Grandidier's baobab is in leaf from October to May, and flowers between May and August.
The species bears ripe fruit in November and December.
Lack of water can sometimes be a problem for plants in Madagascar. It appears that the baobab overcomes this by storing water within the fibrous wood of the trunk, as the tree's diameter fluctuates with rainfall.[5]
Taxonomy
Adansonia grandidieri was first described and published by botanist Henri Ernest Baillon in A.Grandidier's, Hist. Phys. Madagascar: tables 79e and 79a in 1888.[8] The genus Adansonia honours the French explorer and botanist, Michel Adanson (1727–1806).[5] The species name grandidieri honours the French botanist and explorer Alfred Grandidier (1836–1921).[9] All species of Adansonia except A. digitata are
Uses
This is the most widely used of the Malagasy baobabs.
Threats and conservation
Grandidier's baobab is classified as endangered by the IUCN Red List 2006.[1] Although it is the most heavily exploited of all the Malagasy baobabs,[5] the greatest threat is the transformation of its forest habitat into agricultural land. Within these disturbed habitats, there is a noticeable lack of young trees. Fires, seed predation, competition from weeds, and an altered physical environment might be affecting the ability of the Madagascar baobab to reproduce,[5] which may have devastating consequences for its survival. In 2003 the President of Madagascar vowed to triple the number of protected areas,[11] a measure which may benefit the Grandidier's baobab. The prominent group of Grandidier's baobabs that make up the Avenue of the Baobabs has been a center of local conservation efforts, and was granted temporary protected status in July 2007 by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests – a step toward making it Madagascar's first natural monument.[12]
References
This article incorporates text from the
- ^ . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
- ^ Boiteau, Pierre (1999). "reniala". Dictionnaire des noms malgaches de végétaux (in French). Vol. III. Editions Alzieu – via Malagasy Dictionary and Encyclopedia of Madagascar.
...de reny : mère et ala : la forêt...
- ^ a b Ambrose-Oji, B. & Mughogho, N., 2007. Adansonia grandidieri Baill. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. van der Vossen, H.A.M. & Mkamilo, G.S. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp Archived 2013-11-08 at the Wayback Machine>. Accessed 30 March 2022.
- ^ JSTOR 2399893.
- ^ "Adansonia grandidieri". Food and Agriculture Organization. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
- ^ a b Baum, D.A. (1995) The Comparative Pollination and Floral Biology of Baobabs (Adansonia-Bombacaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 82(2): 322 - 348.
- ^ "Adansonia grandidieri Baill. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-4020-6430-2.
- doi:10.1002/tax.616006. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2013-12-11. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
- ^ Yun, Linda (30 April 2007). "Madagascar Expands Network of Protected Areas". Conservation International. Archived from the original on 18 August 2007.
- ^ "Allée des Baobabs: Un site classé aire protégée" [Alley of the Baobabs: A protected area site]. Madagascar Tribune (in French). 1 August 2007. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
External links
Media related to Adansonia grandidieri at Wikimedia Commons