Adansonia gregorii
Boab | |
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Adansonia gregorii, the boab | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Malvales |
Family: | Malvaceae |
Genus: | Adansonia |
Species: | A. gregorii
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Binomial name | |
Adansonia gregorii | |
Occurrence records from GBIF[2]
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Adansonia gregorii, commonly known as the boab and also known by a number of other names, is a tree in the family Malvaceae, endemic to the northern regions of Western Australia and the Northern Territory of Australia.
Names
The specific name "gregorii" honours the Australian explorer
The common name "boab" is a shortened form of the generic common name "boabab", and is the most widely recognised common name. It does, however, have a large number of other common names. Similar names include:
- baobab — the common name for the genus as a whole, but often used in Australia to refer to the Australian species
- Australian baobab[5]
- boabab was in common use from the late 1850s[6] (Perhaps the origin of boab)
- baob[7][8]
Gadawon
Other names include:
- bottle tree[5] or bottletree[11]
- cream of tartar tree[9][11]
- gourd-gourd tree[11]
- gouty stem tree[11]
- monkey bread tree[6][10]
- sour gourd[9]
- upside down tree[12]
- dead rat tree[10]
Habitat
Endemic to Australia, boab occurs in the
It can grow from sea level up to about 300 m (980 ft) in altitude, and is most often found in open forest and rocky areas, but is also seen in
Description
As with other baobabs, Adansonia gregorii is easily recognised by the swollen base of its trunk, which forms a massive caudex, giving the tree a bottle-like appearance.[13] Boab ranges from 5–15 m (16–49 ft) in height, usually 9–12 m (30–39 ft), with a broad bottle-shaped trunk,[15] up to 5 m (16 ft) in diameter.[10]
A. gregorii is
Boabs are
The tree's bark has a remarkable property, in that it can maintain inscribed markings for long periods of time, over more than a century.[11] Some specimens of the African relative of boabs have been estimated to live close to 2,000 years, but the Australian ones are not as well-documented.[10]
Uses
The plant has a wide variety of uses; most parts are edible and it is the source of a number of materials. Its medicinal products and the ability to store water through dry seasons has been exploited.
Decorative paintings or carvings were sometimes made on the outer surface of the fruit.[10]
The bark and leaves are used medicinally, in particular for digestive ailments.[18]
The root fibres are used to create string.[11]
The 1889 book Useful native plants of Australia states that "The dry acidulous pulp of the fruit is eaten. It has an agreeable taste, like
European use of the trees has included letter boxes and jails.[11]
The leaves may see a future use prepared as food, due to their high iron content.[18] The leaves can be boiled and eaten as a spinach; the seeds can be ground and used as a coffee-like beverage, and fermenting the pulp creates a type of beer.[10]
Notable trees
A large hollow boab south of Derby, Western Australia is reputed to have been used in the 1890s as a lockup for Aboriginal prisoners on their way to Derby for sentencing. The Boab Prison Tree, Derby is now a tourist attraction.[20]
Another hollow boab near Wyndham, Western Australia was also used as a prison tree. The Hillgrove Lockup or Wyndham Prison Tree is on the King River Road out of Wyndham near the Moochalabra Dam.[21][22][23][24] There is also a boab tree located within the Wyndham Caravan Park that is billed as "the biggest boab in captivity".[25]
Dendroglyphs
In 2021, a collaborative project to find and trace histories etched in boab trees in the Kimberley was launched. Funded by the
In October 2022, the team published the results of their recent survey of such trees in the
In film
A boab tree is featured in the 1992 animated film FernGully: The Last Rainforest to imprison the film's antagonist, Hexxus.[28][29]
The boab tree is celebrated in the end credits of the 2008 film
Gallery
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Boab in Timber Creek, NT
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Boab in Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge), NT
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Boab at Katherine River, NT
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Boab tree sunset near Derby, WA
References
- . Retrieved 15 August 2023.
- ^ (26 May 2018) GBIF Occurrence Download Adansonia gregorii F.Muell.
- ^ a b "Gregory's Tree". Monument Australia. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ^ a b "Gregory's Tree, Timber Creek". Visit the Northern Territory, Australia. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ^ a b "Adansonia gregorii – Australian Baobab or Bottle Tree seed x5". Ole Lantana’s Seed Store. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ^ a b "Trove Newspaper results for "boabab"". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ^ "A "BOOB" IN A BAOB TREE". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 31 August 1940. p. 9. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
- ^ "SOUVENIRS". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 1 September 1928. p. 8. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
- ^ a b c "Gadawon". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Moore, Gregory (4 August 2022). "Built like buildings, boab trees are life-savers with a chequered past". The Conversation. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Adansonia gregorii". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants. CSIRO. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ^ a b "Tracing history via the Kimberley's "upside down" trees". WA Parks Foundation. 27 January 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ^ )
- ^ Hunt, Melanie (2 May 2019). "'Trees of life': Tracing the journey of baobab trees from Australia to Dubai". The National. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ^ Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- ^ Baum, D.A., 1995, A Systematic Revision of Adansonia (Bombacaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden , 1995, Vol. 82, No. 3 (1995), pp. 440-471
- ^ Vickers, Claudia; Jack Pettigrew. "Origins of the Australian Boab (Adansonia gregorii)". The University of Queensland. Archived from the original on 3 July 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
- ^ a b "Could a WA tree help in treating iron deficiency?". ABC News. 7 February 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
- ^ J. H. Maiden (1889). The useful native plants of Australia : Including Tasmania. Turner and Henderson, Sydney.
- ^ Boab Prison Tree Archived 1 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, About-Australia.com. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
- ^ "SOUVENIRS". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 1 September 1928. p. 8. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
- ^ "Giant Bottle Trees". The Queenslander. National Library of Australia. 26 February 1931. p. 54. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
- ^ "THE BAOBAB". The Queenslander. National Library of Australia. 26 February 1931. p. 29. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
- ^ "IN THE FAR NORTH-WEST". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 17 December 1932. p. 5. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
- ^ "Biggest Boab in Captivity, Wyndham WA_0449". Flickr. 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ^ a b c Salleh, Anna (11 October 2022). "Race against time to preserve Lingka Dreaming carvings on boab trees in Tanami Desert". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ISSN 0003-598X.
- ^ Astell, Paul (7 April 2019). "Film Review: FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)". Feeling Animated. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ^ "Movie Review Friday: FernGully: The Last Rainforest". The Green Life. 2 April 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- ^ Adams, Ryan (30 November 2008). "Satellite Award Nominees". Awardsdaily. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
Works cited
- Boland, D. J.; et al. (1984). Forest Trees of Australia (Fourth ed.). Collingwood, Victoria, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. ISBN 978-0-643-05423-3.
External links
- "Boab (KHS Group Photographic Pool on Flickr)". Flickr. Photographs of the Australian Boab – Adansonia gregorii (Includes photographs of both prison trees).
- "Photograph of the Hillgrove Lockup". State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 11 January 2012. Photograph by M.E. McCombe ca.1917-1925.