They are typically found in dry, hot savannas of sub-Saharan Africa, where they dominate the landscape and reveal the presence of a watercourse from afar.

African baobabs are trees that often grow as solitary individuals, and are large and distinctive elements of savanna or scrubland vegetation.

[4] The hollow core found in many tree species is the result of wood removal, such as decay of the oldest, internal part of the trunk.

In baobabs, however, many of the largest and oldest of the trees have a hollow core that is the result of a fused circle of three to eight stems sprouting from roots.

The spongy material of the bark allows water to be absorbed deeper into the tissue, as there is rarely enough rain during the wet season to penetrate the litter layer of soil.

[14] Parenchyma are soft plant tissue cells that are commonly used for water storage in other drought tolerant species like cactus and succulents.

[citation needed] Another reason why the water in the trunk can only be used as a buffer for long-term deficits is the distance between the vascular tissue and the parenchyma.

[13] The water in the cells at the core of the trunk and the branches would take too much energy from the tree to move back into the vascular tissue for daily use.

[4] The scientific name Adansonia refers to the French explorer and botanist, Michel Adanson (1727–1806), who wrote the first botanical description for the full species.

[3] A proposed new species (Adansonia kilima Pettigrew, et al.), was described in 2012, found in high-elevation sites in eastern and southern Africa.

Some high-elevation trees in Tanzania show different genetics and morphology but further study is needed to determine if they should be considered a separate species.

[26] The northern limit of its distribution in Africa is associated with rainfall patterns; only on the Atlantic coast and in the Sudanian savanna does its occurrence venture naturally into the Sahel.

[27] The African Baobab is native to Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, northern Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, Congo Republic, DR Congo (formerly Zaire), Eritrea, Ethiopia, southern Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Angola, São Tomé, Príncipe, Annobon, South Africa (in Limpopo province, north of the Soutpansberg mountain range), Namibia, Botswana.

[25][24] It is an introduced species in Java, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Seychelles, Comoros, India, Guangdong, Fujian, Yunnan[25] and has been planted in Penang, Malaysia, along certain streets.

The fruits are eaten by many species and the germination potential is improved when seeds have passed through the digestive tract of an animal or have been subjected to fire.

[3] Some aspects of the baobab's reproductive biology are not yet understood but it is thought that pollen from another tree may be required to develop fertile seed.

[34] People have traditionally valued the trees as sources of food, water, health remedies or places of shelter.

[36] The fruit has been suggested to have the potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable land care.

[37] In Sudan – where the tree is called tebeldi تبلدي – people make tabaldi juice by soaking and dissolving the dry pulp of the fruit in water, locally known as gunguleiz.

The leaves are used in the preparation of a soup termed miyan kuka in Northern Nigeria and are rich in phytochemicals and minerals.

This is scientifically plausible as those women will have better access to the tree's vitamin-rich leaves and fruits to complement a vitamin-deficient diet.

[47] Download coordinates as: A number of individual baobab trees attract sightseers due to their age, size, history, location or isolated occurrence.

The explorer and hunter James Chapman left an engraving on a large root when he passed the tree with artist Thomas Baines in 1861, but Livingstone, Oswell, Moffat, and Selous also camped here.

Livingstone supposedly carved a cross and his initials, and conveyed his 1853 sojourn in Missionary Travels, noting: "about two miles beyond [the immense saltpan Ntwetwe] we unyoked under a fine specimen of baobab, ...

[50] Seven trees known as the Sleeping Sisters or Baines' Baobabs grow on a tiny islet in Kudiakam Pan, Botswana.

Sinhala name - Aliyagaha (Sri lanka wild life interlude vol l ) It is said that the tree in Pallimunai of Mannar island is the oldest and largest one of 800 years old.

[citation needed] The first botanical description of A. digitata was done by Adanson based on a tree on the island of Sor, Senegal.

On the nearby Îles des Madeleines Adanson found a baobab that was 3.8 metres (12 ft) in diameter, which bore the carvings of passing mariners on its trunk, including those of Prince Henry the Navigator in 1444 and André Thevet in 1555.

According to the bronze memorial plaque, twelve women were rounded up during the 1878 Fireburn labor riot, and burned alive beneath the tree.

[59] Zimbabwe's Big Tree, near Victoria Falls, stands 25 meters tall and is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists yearly.