Adansonia gregorii

For Engracia Madejón, Scientific Researcher of the CSIC in the IRNAS (Institute of Natural resources and Agrobiology of Seville) and hardened traveler.

Adansonia gregorii is the scientific name of the boab, a tree of the family of the Malvaceas. As other baobas it is recognized by his trunk, breadth in the base, which gives him bottle aspect. It is endemic of Australia and it grows in Kimberley (region of the west of Australia) and some areas of the Territory of North. It is the only Australian species, the others are located in Madagascar (6) and in the African continent (1). It can reach a height of between 9 and 12 meters and his trunks can have a diameter of more than 5 meters (they even were serving like jails once dry!). It is caducifolia, and it loses his sheets at the dry station and recovers them in the humid one.

During thousands of years the aboriginals have made use of all his parts: the crust to make ropes, his porous trunk to obtain the retained water, and the fruits and the sheets like food and with medicinal ends. The hard rinds of the fruits were used to do different types of receptacles. The fruit has a texture similar to that of a dry apple and acidic flavor, as that of the citrus fruits, and it is very rich in vitamin C and minerals.

The aboriginal legends tell that the God of the trees created the boab like the best of the trees of the universe, with the most beautiful flowers and the juiciest fruits. But as it was growing it lost splendor and his fruits acquired a horrible flavor. The God of the trees angered so much that started it all at once of the ground and planted it of the reverse. That's why when you see one of them it gives you the impression of which it grows with the roots to the air.