Time for plants, most notably a large plant. What more is there to say, let's jump in. And if you want to request an issue on an amazing animal, fabulous fungus, perplexing plant, or awesome paleofauna, don't hesitate to leave a request in the comments.

Range: The African baobab is native to tropical savannah habitats in sub-Saharan Africa. The African baobab has been introduced to a wide range of countries outside of Africa including Malaysia, India, Jamaica and Venezuela among others.

IUCN Status: The conservation status African baobab is not currently listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Turned Upside Down

The African baobab is a medium sized tree with grey bark which can grow up to 25m in height and up to 14m in width. The trunk of baobab trees is typically formed of multiple stems fusing to a hollow core in the centre of the tree, one created as the oldest part of the tree begins to decay (2). Baobab trees store water in their branches and trunks, channelling rainwater down the branches and into the vascular tissue of the tree. The largest baobab trees can store up to 136,000 litres of water and is either retained in the vascular tissue or is moved into the parenchyma cells for long term storage. The leaves of the tree are waxy, to reduce water loss, and radiate out from a single point into five to nine leaflets, in a vaguely palmate formation. African baobabs typically grow in the driest parts of the savannah, and to reduce water loss, baobabs drop their leaves, during the dry season for up to eight months.

African baobabs flower in both the dry and wet season, and produce large white flowers that hang downward, that reach 8cm in width. The flowers open in late afternoon (3), and are in bloom for only a single day, with the flowers turning brown after twenty-four hours, and begin to smell like rotting flesh. African baobabs are primarily pollinated by bats such as the Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegypticus) and straw-coloured bats (Eidolon helvum) but are also visited by numerous insect species and galagoes (4). The seeds of African baobabs are large, sometimes reaching 25cm long, and hand down from the branches of the tree. The shells of these seeds are woody and are both fireproof and waterproof, the later allowing the seed to be dispersed by water, in addition to more typical animal dispersal.

Due to their large size, and their tendency to grow separately from other trees, both of their own species and other species, baobabs act as 'islands' in the savannah. The hollowness of the tree, allow animals to use the tree as shelter from the elements. Both adult baobabs and their seeds are fireproof, due to the thick wood or shells they possess. African baobabs are long lived, with one of the oldest trees reaching and age of 2,450 years in age before it died, making the species among the longest-lived angiosperm plants (5). Despite their longevity, African baobabs are facing a reduction in longevity due to increasing lengths of droughts and desertification, with other factors such as increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases also a potential factor (6).

Wildlife in Folklore #11 - The Strange Side of the Baobab Trees

To say the baobab tree is useful is an understatement; even in the dry season with no leaves the tree provides shade, and the tree can be tapped for water and the fruit is edible even possessing minor medicinal properties (7). Even the fact that the tree grows alone, the African baobab can act as a landmark in a largely featureless environment. And yet, there is something uncanny regarding the baobab, its proportions are not quite normal, at least for trees. This uncanniness has resulted in the baobab appearing in folklore in multiple cultures across sub-Saharan Africa.

The Kung people of Botswana, Namibia and Angola have a tale that Xu, the Kung creator god gave every animal a seed to plant, with the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) arriving late, and given the seed of a baobab tree. Being careless and lazy, the hyena planted the seed upside down, causing the tree to grow the wrong way up, with the roots becoming branches. The similarity of the baobab's branches to roots, inspired multiple similar tales, with baobabs planted upside down (8). In other mythologies, the baobab was simply thrown out of the gardens of heaven and landed upside down and then continued to grow.

Not every myth has the baobab as the victim of uprooting, sometimes they get their just desert. Along the banks of the Zambezi river in Zambia, the tale has the baobab's growing tall and becoming prideful, enough that they prevented other trees from growing. This stubbornness and inhospitality angered the gods, causing them to dig the baobab up and plant them upside down (9). In this story the baobab trees produce fruit and store water for others as penance for their crimes against the gods, but still remain proud, hence the reason they typically grow alone.

African baobab trees are not just victims of their own hubris, in some tales they hold evil spirits that punish those who dare cross them. In Zambia large baobab trees were said to be the nest of giant spectral white pythons that punished anyone who entered the tree hollows. Even after the white man came to Zambia and killed the python, odd hissing and screaming could be heard from inside the tree, suggesting that the spirits hadn't gone far. The odd sounds coming from the hollows of baobab trees, most likely caused by the beating of bat wings and the cries of galagoes that are pollinators of the tree's flowers, inspired far darker stories.

A particularly large baobab tree in Zambia's Kafue National Park named Kondanamwali, a name that translates to 'the maiden eating tree' (10). Overlooking a village, Kondanamwali fell in love with four young girls, and watched over them as went through puberty and got jealous as one by one, the women found husbands. One stormy night Kondanamwali opened its trunk up and lured the women one by one inside, before closing up again, locking its hostages inside. As with the hissing of the spectral pythons, the sound of screaming and wailing is still said to be heard from t*he interior of the tree.

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Next week we have a 'little armoured' issue moving its way north. And if you want to see more amazing animals and plants, please check out the Oddity Arkive or past issues. And if you want even more animals, please check out the dearly departed Impurest Cheese's Guide to Animals, which can be found here or on the blog of 'not a bob' @ficopedia.

If you still have a yearning for learning, please check out the master list of Mr Monster's Martial Arts Journey.