In this opportunity, I will tell you about the adventure that he lived yesterday, together with my co-workers, we visited the Botanical Garden of Maracaibo, where we could appreciate several species of trees and plants from various places of the world, which were brought in the boat and plane a few decades ago, in order to create a natural environment that works where you can locate other plant species of the world, making it work like a museum.
Among the diversity of tree species found in the complex. There was one that captured my attention, not only because of its greatness but because of the historical relevance that this species possesses. His name is Adansonia or better known as Boabab.
It is a tree of African origin, found in latitudes of the South and Center of the African continent. This tree is known by many people because it has certain characteristics that allow it to easily identify people without the need to be a biologist or botanist, it should be noted that this tree has been reviewed in important texts worldwide as the famous little prince writer and novelist Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. On the other hand, the morphological characteristics of the tree are the following:
characteristics
It has a very thick trunk in the shape of a bottle or irregular because it usually develops a large number of knots, has an approximate height between 12 and 40 m. Its bark is smooth, with a fibrous wood with little water content. The leaves have the characteristic of developing in the highest part of the tree, since it extends its branches in the upper part in a circular way. Its flowers are 10 cm hermaphrodites with white petals. Its fruit is dry berry or a thick capsule shaped like an elongated melon. The boababs have an average life of 4000 years. Some baobabs are hollowed out at maturity and become large deposits in which more than six thousand liters of water can be stored.
Species of Boababs
There are 8 recognized boabab species where 6 of these grow in Madagascar, 1 in Central Africa and 1 in Australia. Adansonia Digitata: Grows in semi-arid areas of Africa, has a very rounded glass and reaches 25 m in height.Adansonia Grandideri: It is typical of the region of Madagascar, has a slender trunk in a cylindrical and smooth than the other species, the pulp of its fruit can be eaten as it has an oil used for cooking.
Adansonia Gregorii: It is the only species that grows in Australia, they do not exceed 10 m in height in the second species that grows least of all.
Adansonia Perrieri: Originating in Madagascar, it is in danger of extinction
Adansonia Rubrostipa: It is the smallest species of the boabab species, it can not exceed 5 m in height, it is characterized by having a cylindrical trunk that narrows before reaching the upper branches, giving the appearance of a bottle.
Adansonia Suaresensis: It can reach up to 25 m in height, and its trunk is stylized with 2 m in diameter. Its foliage is broad and its leaves are between 6 and qq folioles, green or yellowish.
Adansonia Za: Grows in the extreme south of Madagascar. Its seeds are edible.
Adansonia Madagascariensis: This grows to the North of Madagascar, it is of short stature between 5 and 12 m., Its roots are edible when they are young and tender plants.
Historical relevance of the Boababs.
The historical transcendence that this species of tree has, lies in the way in which the human being has known how to make use of it, for its sustenance throughout the evolution of the human being. The ancient indigenous communities used it as a resource that offered them water, in their roots, housing with their hollow trunks and their fruits to make refreshing drinks, their leaves serve to make soup.