The Baobab Tree
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| Baobab trees at Ala Moana Park in summer |
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| Baobab trees at Ala Moana Park in winter |
As I was settling down to my
once in a week routine of browsing the
magazines and books over a cup of coffee inside the local Barnes and Noble near
my house in Honolulu, I heard excited chatter of children and mothers around
me.
It was story telling time
during the Holidays and today’s book was “The little Prince” by Antoine de
Saint-Exupéry. Seeing the crowd my curiosity was aroused, so I went and sat at
the back listening to the story. As the story progressed, I was fascinated by
the baobabs tree in the story.
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| The little prince |
The baobabs are giant plants
that grow on the prince’s planet. The prince tells the narrator that: They start off as tiny weeds, but if not
uprooted and discarded when they are little, they firmly take root and can even
cause a planet to split apart.
On a metaphorical level, the
baobabs stand for unpleasant things in one’s nature – if we don’t spot them and
weed them out early, they will take firm root and distort our personalities.
I have never thought of the
Baobab tree as a weed or comparing it with Nazis. Looking deeper, the
comparison made a lot of sense, knowing that Saint-Exupéry fought in World War
II against the Nazis, and that the Nazis were still rising to power when The
Little Prince was written.
Infact, I have walked past the tree essentially every day of
my last 3 years in Honolulu.
Ala Moana park, where I go for a walk all the time, have several baobab trees. I
looked up for information about the baobab tree on the internet, and also
bought a couple of books about it from the local library.
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| The Baobab tree in Ala Moana park |
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| Baobab trees at Ala Moana Park |
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| Baobab trees at Ala Moana Park |
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| Baobab trees at Ala Moana Park |
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| Baobab trees at Ala Moana Park |
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| Baobab trees at Ala Moana Park |
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| Baobab trees at Ala Moana Park |
I am sharing some of the
information I found, along with pictures of the trees in Ala Moana park and
some from Public Domain.
Baobab is the common name for
each of the nine species of tree in the genus Adansonia. (named in honor
of French botanist Michel Adanson)
Other names include boab,
boaboa, tabaldi, bottle tree, upside-down tree, and monkey bread tree.
Baobab trees reflect the
“succeed-at-all-cost “aspect of nature's handiwork very clearly as they have
evolved to survive in sun-soaked plains of Africa, Madagascar
and Australia,
where rainfall is a rarity. Other areas they are found are India, Ceylon,
and Hawaii.
All Baobabs are deciduous
trees ranging in height from 5 to 20 meters. The trunk circumference can exceed
85 feet and carbon dating indicates that they may live to be 3,000 years old.
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| A very fat Baobab Tree |
The tree is certainly very
different from any other. The trunk is smooth and shiny, not at all like the
bark of other trees, and it is pinkish grey or sometimes copper coloured. When
bare of leaves, the spreading branches of the Baobab look like roots sticking
up into the air, rather as if it had been planted upside-down.
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| Sunrise over a bunch of Baobab trees in Africa |
While stripping the bark from
the lower trunk of most trees usually leads to their death, baobabs not only
survive this common practice, but they regenerate new bark.
Baobabs are known to store up
to 100.000 liters of water in their trunks – which is why elephants, eland and
other animals chew the bark during dry seasons.
In areas with good rainfall,
like Florida and Hawaii, the African baobab develops more
foliage and retains it most of the year. The glossy, moisture-hoarding leaves
are arranged in clusters composed of five leaflets that grow from the same
point.
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| leaves of the baobab tree |
An old Baobab tree can create
its own ecosystem, as it supports the life of countless creatures, from the
largest of mammals to the thousands of tiny creatures scurrying in and out of
its crevices. Birds nest in its branches; baboons devour the fruit; bush babies
and fruit bats drink the nectar and pollinate the flowers, and elephants have
been known to chop down and consume a whole tree.
Flowers and Fruit
The Baobab tree has large
whitish flowers which open at night. They are 6 inches in diameter and keep
dangling on lengthy stems; with snow-white petals that curl back to reveal
masses of more than 1600 red stamens.
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| A wilted flower of the tree |
The flowers open at night and are mostly
pollinated by bats and moths.
They bear fruits that are as
unique as the tree.
The 6-inch to 10-inch-long fruits
are covered with fuzz, and are hanging on long stem, which make them look like
deceased rodents strung up by their tails, giving rise to another of the
baobab's common names: dead rat tree.
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| fruit and flower of the baobab tree |
The fruit, which grows up to
a foot long, contains tartaric acid and vitamin C and can either be sucked, or
soaked in water to make a refreshing drink.
Uses
Fiber from the bark is used
to make rope, baskets, cloth, musical instrument strings, and waterproof hats.
Fresh baobab leaves provide an edible vegetable similar to spinach which is
also used medicinally to treat kidney and bladder disease, asthma, insect
bites, and several other maladies.
The tasty and nutritious
fruits and seeds of several species are sought after, while pollen from the
African and Australian baobabs is mixed with water to make glue.
Cream of tartar (a cooking
ingredient) was originally produced from the acidic baobab seed pulp, but is
now mainly sourced as a by-product from the wine-making process.
Baobab can be used as
medicine. Fruit facilitates digestion, reduces fever and improves function of
nervous system.
The large trunks (the largest
circumference on record is 47m) have been or are used as jails, post offices
and bush pubs, amongst other creative uses.
Compounds isolated from the
bark are used for the manufacture of soap, glue and rubber.
Baobab tree is also known as
"tree of life" because it provides shelter, water and food and can be
used for many other purposes.Baobab can survive more than 3 thousand years in
the wild. In the Disney movie “”Lion King”, Rafiki and Simba often
hung around the tree of life?
Unfortunately, baobab is on
the list of endangered plants due to accelerated habitat loss (as a result of
increased agriculture).
Legends associated with the tree
Many Africans have another
story to tell. Baobab tree was unhappy with its looks from the time
it was created by God. It was whiny and yelled at God all the time for being
partial and making it unattractive. One day God, fed up of his baseless complaints, came
back to Earth. He pulled it from the ground, turned it over, and replanted
it upside down. With his mouth now buried in the ground, baobab couldn’t
complain anymore.
One gigantic baobab in Zambia is said
to be haunted by a ghostly python. Before the white man came, a large python
lived in the hollow trunk and was worshipped by the local natives. When they
prayed for rain, fine crops and good hunting, the python answered their
prayers. The first white hunter shot the python and this event led to
disastrous consequences. On still nights the natives claim to hear a continuous
hissing sound from the old tree.
Along the Limpopo,
it is believed that when a young boy is washed in water used to soak baobab
bark, he will grow up into a big man. Certain tribes in the Transvaal
wash baby boys in water soaked in the bark of a baobab. Then, like the tree,
they will grow up mighty and strong.
Baobabs in Hawaii
In Hawaii,
the first baobab tree was planted in 1891 by the first graduating class from Kamehameha Boys School.
Queen Lili‘uokalani attended the graduation ceremony and watched as the 14
graduating senior boys planted the tree on the original KSB campus which
surrounded the Bishop
Museum.
The original Kamehameha
Schools campus was where Bishop Museum stands today, and the original chapel was near
Farrington High School.
On May 10, 1930 the Baobab
Tree was moved to the new campus up the hill, the replanting witnessed by class
of 1891 alumni at tending their Kamehameha Schools reunion.
There are other baobab trees
in Hawai‘i. One of the most famous is at Queens Medical
Center. Dr. William
Hillebrand, Queens’s first physician and noted botanist, worked
with Queen Emma to create beautiful gardens.
The tree has the status of “exceptional”
meaning it has historical value or is a good example of a species.
These trees cannot be pruned,
moved, or disturbed in any way without a special permit from the City and
County.
Baobab trees can live up to
thousands of years. People say when they die, they collapse into a heap of
mushy, hairy pulp that burns, OR it turns into dust that gets blown away by the
wind only to create new baobab trees!!
Children folklore on baobab
Many books have been written
on baobab trees, most are children picture books.Here are few that are most common.
Tree of Life: The World of the
African Baobab (Tree Tales)
is
written and illustrated by Barbara Bash. The baobab tree survives in a harsh
environment and is leafless for most of the year. In fact, legend says that the
tree was planted upside down. From this beginning, Bash relates the story the
life cycle of the tree and all the creatures that depend on it. The watercolors
are beautiful.
A lyrical, poetic, and informative look at life on the African Plain, and the lives which surround the Baobob tree. This is dialogue that begs to be read aloud - in front of a class or in front of a fire. This is text matched in magic by exquisite and realistic illustrations of wildlife and weather, seasons and survival. A book to listen to, pour over, and to read and reread.
http://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Books-Around-World-Africa/dp/1929132778/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449020081&sr=1-1&keywords=this+is+the+tree
A Tree Is Growing by
Arthur Dorros and illustrated by S.D. Schindler is suitable for a range of
audiences. It follows an oak tree through the seasons. Along the way are
interesting sidebars of other species. Did you know that baobab trees store
water in their trunks and actually swell up? The paper is dark and the
illustrations are not the bright primary colors associated with picture books,
but are very lifelike.
http://www.amazon.com/Tree-Growing-Arthur-Dorros/dp/0590453009/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449019958&sr=1-1&keywords=A+Tree+Is+Growing+by+Arthur+Dorros
The Golden Baobab Tree (by Nkiacha Atemnkeng)
The golden baobab tree is where village elders go to discuss traditional matters with their leader, Chief Foretia Nkengasong. It is also where children go to listen to stories. On this day, the children of Letia gather under the tree to listen to the famous storyteller, Uncle Jimi Solanke, who has come to the village at the invitation of the chief.
http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Baobab-Tree-Atemnkeng-Nkiacha/dp/1941221009/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449020386&sr=1-1&keywords=the+golden+baobab
References:
1.
Shmoop Editorial
Team. (2008, November 11). The Baobabs in The Little Prince. Retrieved
December 1, 2015, from http://www.shmoop.com/little-prince/baobabs-symbol.html
11. http://www.amazon.com/Under-Baobab-Tree-Julie-Stiegemeyer/dp/0310725615
Enjoyed your essay and information on the baobab.... I remember the one in front of Queen's Hospital (I lived in Honolulu 2010-2014)
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