Difference between revisions of "Adansonia" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
(added article from Wikipedia and credit/category tag)
 
Line 15: Line 15:
 
}}
 
}}
  
'''Baobab''' is the common name of a [[genus]] (''Adansonia'') containing eight species of [[tree]]s, native to [[Madagascar]] (the centre of diversity, with six species), mainland [[Africa]] and [[Australia]] (one species in each). The mainland African species also occurs on  Madagascar, but it is not a native of that country. Other common names include '''boab''', '''boaboa''', '''bottle tree''' and '''monkey bread tree'''.  The species reach a height of 5–25&nbsp;m, 10-80ft (exceptionally 30&nbsp;m, 100ft), and often a trunk diameter of 7&nbsp;m, 23ft (exceptionally over 11&nbsp;m, 36ft). A specimen in [[Limpopo Province]] [[South Africa]], often considered the largest example alive, has a [[girth]] of 155 feet and an average diameter of 15&nbsp;m, 49ft.{{Fact|date=April 2008}} Baobabs store [[water]] inside the swollen trunk, up to 120,000 litres (32,000 US gallons), to endure the harsh drought conditions particular to each region.<ref>Senegal Online: [http://www.senegal-online.com/anglais/parcs-faune-flore/baobab.htm Baobabs]</ref> All occur in seasonally [[arid]] areas, and are [[deciduous]], shedding their [[leaf|leaves]] during the dry season. Some are reputed to be many thousands of years old, though this is impossible to verify as the [[wood]] does not produce annual [[growth ring]]s. Few [[botanist]]s believe these claims of extreme age; current evidence suggests they rarely exceed 400 years.<ref>Wilson, R. T. (1988). Vital statistics of the baobab (Adansonia digitata). ''African Journal of Ecology'' 26 (3): 197-206.</ref>
+
'''Baobab''' is the common name of a [[genus]] (''Adansonia'') containing eight species of [[tree]]s, native to [[Madagascar]] (the centre of diversity, with six species), mainland [[Africa]] and [[Australia]] (one species in each). The mainland African species also occurs on  Madagascar, but it is not a native of that country. Other common names include '''boab''', '''boaboa''', '''bottle tree''' and '''monkey bread tree'''.   
 +
 
 +
==Overview and description==
 +
'''Malvaceae''', or the '''mallow family''', is a family of [[flowering plant]]s containing over 200 genera with close to 2,300 species <ref name:"Judd"> Judd & al. </ref>.
 +
 
 +
The largest genera in terms of number of species include ''[[Hibiscus]]'' (300 species), ''[[Sterculia]]'' (250 species), ''[[Dombeya]]'' (225 species), ''[[Pavonia (plant)|Pavonia]]'' (200 species) and ''[[Sida (genus)|Sida]]'' (200 species
 +
 
 +
| name = Malvaceae
 +
| image = Malva parviflora.jpg
 +
| image_width = 240px
 +
| image_caption = Least Mallow, ''Malva parviflora''
 +
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
 +
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
 +
| classis = [[Dicotyledon|Magnoliopsida]]
 +
| ordo = [[Malvales]]
 +
| familia = '''Malvaceae'''
 +
| familia_authority = [[Antoine Laurent de Jussieu|Juss.]]
 +
| subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies
 +
| subdivision = [[Bombacoideae]]<br/>
 +
[[Brownlowioideae]]<br/>
 +
[[Byttnerioideae]]<br/>
 +
[[Dombeyoideae]]<br/>
 +
[[Grewioideae]]<br/>
 +
[[Helicteroideae]]<br/>
 +
[[Malvoideae]]<br/>
 +
[[Sterculioideae]]<br/>
 +
[[Tilioideae]]
 +
}}
 +
 
 +
'''Malvaceae''', or the '''mallow family''', is a family of [[flowering plant]]s containing over 200 genera with close to 2,300 species <ref name:"Judd"> Judd & al. </ref>.
 +
 
 +
The largest genera in terms of number of species include ''[[Hibiscus]]'' (300 species), ''[[Sterculia]]'' (250 species), ''[[Dombeya]]'' (225 species), ''[[Pavonia (plant)|Pavonia]]'' (200 species) and ''[[Sida (genus)|Sida]]'' (200 species{{Verify source|date=November 2007}}<!--- genus article say only half --->).
 +
 
 +
==Taxonomy==
 +
The circumscription of the Malvaceae is very controversial.
 +
 
 +
The traditional Malvaceae ''sensu stricto'' comprises a very homogeneous and cladistically monophyletic group.
 +
 
 +
Another major circumscription, Malvaceae ''sensu lato'', has been more recently defined on the basis that newer techniques have shown that the commonly recognised families [[Bombacaceae]], [[Tiliaceae]], and [[Sterculiaceae]], which have always been considered very close to Malvaceae ''s.s.'', are not monophyletic groups. Thus the Malvaceae have been expanded to include all of these families so to have a monophyletic group. Adopting this circumscription, Malvaceae incorporates a much larger number of genera.
 +
 
 +
This article is based on the second circumscription, as presented by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website <ref name:"APW"> Angiosperm Phylogeny Website </ref>. The Malvaceae ''s.l.'' (hereafter simply ''Malvaceae'') comprise nine subfamilies. A tentative cladogram of the family is shown below. The diamond denotes a poorly supported branching (<80%).
 +
 
 +
{{clade|style=font-size:80%;line-height:75%|1=
 +
{{clade
 +
|1={{clade
 +
|1='''[[Byttnerioideae]]''': 26 genera, 650 species. Pantropical, especially [[South America]]
 +
|2='''[[Grewioideae]]''': 25 genera, 770 species. Pantropical.
 +
}}|label2=♦|2={{clade
 +
|1='''[[Sterculioideae]]''': 12 genera, 430 species. Pantropical
 +
|2='''[[Tilioideae]]''': 3 genera, 50 species. Northern [[temperate region]]s and [[Central America]]
 +
|3='''[[Dombeyoideae]]''': 21 genera, 381 species. Palaeotropical, especially [[Madagascar]] and [[Mascarenes]]
 +
|4='''[[Brownowioideae]]''': 8 genera, 68 species. Especially palaeotropical.
 +
|5='''[[Helicteroideae]]''': 8 to 10 genera, 10 to 90 species. Tropical, especially south east [[Asia]].
 +
|label6=♦|6={{clade
 +
|1='''[[Malvoideae]]''': 78 genera, 1,670 species. Temperate to tropical.
 +
|2='''[[Bombacoideae]]''': 12 genera, 120 species. Tropical, especially [[Africa]] and [[Americas|America]]
 +
}}}}}}}}
 +
 
 +
It is important to point out the relationships between these subfamilies are still either poorly supported or almost completely obscure, so that the very definition of the family may change dramatically as new studies are published.
 +
 
 +
If looking for information about the traditional Malvaceae ''s.s.'', we recommend referring to ''[[Malvoideae]]'', the subfamily that approximately corresponds to that group.
 +
 
 +
==Description==
 +
Most species are [[herb]]s or [[shrub]]s but some [[tree]]s and [[liana]]s are present.
 +
 
 +
===Leaves and stems===
 +
[[Image:Malva alcea pili NRM.jpg|Stellate hairs on the underside of a dried leaf of ''Malva alcea''|thumb]]
 +
[[Leaf|Leaves]] are generally [[phyllotaxis|alternate]], often palmately lobed or compound and palmately veined. The margin may be entire, but when [[Leaf#Leaf_terminology|dentate]] a vein ends at the tip of each tooth (''malvoid teeth''). Stipules are present. The [[stem]]s contain mucous canals and often also mucous cavities. Hairs are common, and are most typically stellate.
 +
 
 +
The flowers are commonly borne in definite or indefinite axillary [[inflorescence]]s, which are often reduced to a single flower, but may also be cauliflorous, oppositifolious or terminal. They often bear supernumerary [[bract]]s. They can be unisexual or bisexual and are generally [[actinomorphic]], often associated with conspicuous [[bracts]], forming an [[epicalyx]]. They generally have five valvate [[sepal]]s, most frequently basally [[connate]]. Five imbricate [[petal]]s. The [[stamen]]s are five to numerous, [[connate]] at least at their bases, but often forming a tube around the [[pistil]]s. The [[pistil]]s are composed of two to many [[connate]] [[carpel]]s. The [[ovary (botany)|ovary]] is superior, with axial placentation. Capitate or lobed [[stigma]].
 +
The flowers have [[nectaries]] made of many tightly packed glandular [[trichome|hairs]], usually positioned on the sepals.
 +
Most often a loculicidal [[capsule (fruit)|capsule]], a [[schizocarp]] or [[nut]].
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
The species reach a height of 5–25&nbsp;m, 10-80ft (exceptionally 30&nbsp;m, 100ft), and often a trunk diameter of 7&nbsp;m, 23ft (exceptionally over 11&nbsp;m, 36ft). A specimen in [[Limpopo Province]] [[South Africa]], often considered the largest example alive, has a [[girth]] of 155 feet and an average diameter of 15&nbsp;m, 49ft.{{Fact|date=April 2008}} Baobabs store [[water]] inside the swollen trunk, up to 120,000 litres (32,000 US gallons), to endure the harsh drought conditions particular to each region.<ref>Senegal Online: [http://www.senegal-online.com/anglais/parcs-faune-flore/baobab.htm Baobabs]</ref> All occur in seasonally [[arid]] areas, and are [[deciduous]], shedding their [[leaf|leaves]] during the dry season. Some are reputed to be many thousands of years old, though this is impossible to verify as the [[wood]] does not produce annual [[growth ring]]s. Few [[botanist]]s believe these claims of extreme age; current evidence suggests they rarely exceed 400 years.<ref>Wilson, R. T. (1988). Vital statistics of the baobab (Adansonia digitata). ''African Journal of Ecology'' 26 (3): 197-206.</ref>
  
 
The Malagasy species are important components of the [[Madagascar dry deciduous forests]].  Within that [[biome]], ''A. madagascariensis'' and ''A. rubrostipa'' occur specifically in the [[Anjajavy Forest]], sometimes growing out of the [[Karst topography|tsingy]] [[limestone]] itself.
 
The Malagasy species are important components of the [[Madagascar dry deciduous forests]].  Within that [[biome]], ''A. madagascariensis'' and ''A. rubrostipa'' occur specifically in the [[Anjajavy Forest]], sometimes growing out of the [[Karst topography|tsingy]] [[limestone]] itself.
Line 88: Line 165:
 
[[Category:Plants]]
 
[[Category:Plants]]
  
{{credit|Adansonia|213214509}}
+
{{credit|Adansonia|213214509|Malvaceae|214237772}}

Revision as of 18:09, 8 June 2008

Baobab
African Baobab
African Baobab
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Genus: Adansonia
Species

See text

Baobab is the common name of a genus (Adansonia) containing eight species of trees, native to Madagascar (the centre of diversity, with six species), mainland Africa and Australia (one species in each). The mainland African species also occurs on Madagascar, but it is not a native of that country. Other common names include boab, boaboa, bottle tree and monkey bread tree.

Overview and description

Malvaceae, or the mallow family, is a family of flowering plants containing over 200 genera with close to 2,300 species [1].

The largest genera in terms of number of species include Hibiscus (300 species), Sterculia (250 species), Dombeya (225 species), Pavonia (200 species) and Sida (200 species

| name = Malvaceae | image = Malva parviflora.jpg | image_width = 240px | image_caption = Least Mallow, Malva parviflora | regnum = Plantae | divisio = Magnoliophyta | classis = Magnoliopsida | ordo = Malvales | familia = Malvaceae | familia_authority = Juss. | subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies | subdivision = Bombacoideae
Brownlowioideae
Byttnerioideae
Dombeyoideae
Grewioideae
Helicteroideae
Malvoideae
Sterculioideae
Tilioideae }}

Malvaceae, or the mallow family, is a family of flowering plants containing over 200 genera with close to 2,300 species [2].

The largest genera in terms of number of species include Hibiscus (300 species), Sterculia (250 species), Dombeya (225 species), Pavonia (200 species) and Sida (200 species[verification needed]).

Taxonomy

The circumscription of the Malvaceae is very controversial.

The traditional Malvaceae sensu stricto comprises a very homogeneous and cladistically monophyletic group.

Another major circumscription, Malvaceae sensu lato, has been more recently defined on the basis that newer techniques have shown that the commonly recognised families Bombacaceae, Tiliaceae, and Sterculiaceae, which have always been considered very close to Malvaceae s.s., are not monophyletic groups. Thus the Malvaceae have been expanded to include all of these families so to have a monophyletic group. Adopting this circumscription, Malvaceae incorporates a much larger number of genera.

This article is based on the second circumscription, as presented by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website [3]. The Malvaceae s.l. (hereafter simply Malvaceae) comprise nine subfamilies. A tentative cladogram of the family is shown below. The diamond denotes a poorly supported branching (<80%).




Byttnerioideae: 26 genera, 650 species. Pantropical, especially South America



Grewioideae: 25 genera, 770 species. Pantropical.




Sterculioideae: 12 genera, 430 species. Pantropical



Tilioideae: 3 genera, 50 species. Northern temperate regions and Central America



Dombeyoideae: 21 genera, 381 species. Palaeotropical, especially Madagascar and Mascarenes



Brownowioideae: 8 genera, 68 species. Especially palaeotropical.



Helicteroideae: 8 to 10 genera, 10 to 90 species. Tropical, especially south east Asia.



Malvoideae: 78 genera, 1,670 species. Temperate to tropical.



Bombacoideae: 12 genera, 120 species. Tropical, especially Africa and America





It is important to point out the relationships between these subfamilies are still either poorly supported or almost completely obscure, so that the very definition of the family may change dramatically as new studies are published.

If looking for information about the traditional Malvaceae s.s., we recommend referring to Malvoideae, the subfamily that approximately corresponds to that group.

Description

Most species are herbs or shrubs but some trees and lianas are present.

Leaves and stems

File:Malva alcea pili NRM.jpg
Stellate hairs on the underside of a dried leaf of Malva alcea

Leaves are generally alternate, often palmately lobed or compound and palmately veined. The margin may be entire, but when dentate a vein ends at the tip of each tooth (malvoid teeth). Stipules are present. The stems contain mucous canals and often also mucous cavities. Hairs are common, and are most typically stellate.

The flowers are commonly borne in definite or indefinite axillary inflorescences, which are often reduced to a single flower, but may also be cauliflorous, oppositifolious or terminal. They often bear supernumerary bracts. They can be unisexual or bisexual and are generally actinomorphic, often associated with conspicuous bracts, forming an epicalyx. They generally have five valvate sepals, most frequently basally connate. Five imbricate petals. The stamens are five to numerous, connate at least at their bases, but often forming a tube around the pistils. The pistils are composed of two to many connate carpels. The ovary is superior, with axial placentation. Capitate or lobed stigma. The flowers have nectaries made of many tightly packed glandular hairs, usually positioned on the sepals. Most often a loculicidal capsule, a schizocarp or nut.


The species reach a height of 5–25 m, 10-80ft (exceptionally 30 m, 100ft), and often a trunk diameter of 7 m, 23ft (exceptionally over 11 m, 36ft). A specimen in Limpopo Province South Africa, often considered the largest example alive, has a girth of 155 feet and an average diameter of 15 m, 49ft.[citation needed] Baobabs store water inside the swollen trunk, up to 120,000 litres (32,000 US gallons), to endure the harsh drought conditions particular to each region.[4] All occur in seasonally arid areas, and are deciduous, shedding their leaves during the dry season. Some are reputed to be many thousands of years old, though this is impossible to verify as the wood does not produce annual growth rings. Few botanists believe these claims of extreme age; current evidence suggests they rarely exceed 400 years.[5]

The Malagasy species are important components of the Madagascar dry deciduous forests. Within that biome, A. madagascariensis and A. rubrostipa occur specifically in the Anjajavy Forest, sometimes growing out of the tsingy limestone itself.

Species

  • Adansonia digitata – African Baobab (western, northeastern, central & southern Africa)
  • Adansonia grandidieri – Grandidier's Baobab (Madagascar)
  • Adansonia gregorii (syn. A. gibbosa) – Boab or Australian Baobab (northwest Australia)
  • Adansonia madagascariensis – Madagascar Baobab (Madagascar)
  • Adansonia perrieri – Perrier's Baobab (North Madagascar)
  • Adansonia rubrostipa (syn. A. fony) – Fony Baobab (Madagascar)
  • Adansonia suarezensis – Suarez Baobab (Diego Suarez, Madagascar)
  • Adansonia za – Za Baobab (Madagascar)

The name Adansonia honours Michel Adanson, the French naturalist and explorer who described A. digitata.

Uses

The fruit is about 18 cm long

The leaves are commonly used as a leaf vegetable throughout the area of mainland African distribution, including Malawi, Zimbabwe, and the Sahel. They are eaten both fresh and as a dry powder. In Nigeria, the leaves are locally known as kuka, and are used to make kuka soup.

The fruit is extremely nutritious and is known as sour gourd[6] or monkey's bread. The dry pulp of the fruit, after separation from the seeds and fibers, is eaten directly or mixed into porridge or milk. In Malawi, the fruit pulp is used to make juice which is very rich in nutrients such as calcium and vitamin C. The shells are burned for heat. The fruit was once used in the production of tartar sauce.[7] In various parts of East Africa, the dry fruit pulp is covered in sugary coating (usually with red coloring) and sold in packages as a sweet and sour candy called "boonya" or "bungha".

The seeds are mostly used as a thickener for soups, but may also be fermented into a seasoning, roasted for direct consumption, or pounded to extract vegetable oil. The tree also provides a source of fibre, dye, and fuel.

Indigenous Australians used baobabs as a source of water and food, and used leaves medicinally. They also painted and carved the outside of the fruits and wore them as ornaments. A very large, hollow boab south of Derby, Western Australia was used in the 1890s as a lockup for Aboriginal prisoners on their way to Derby for sentencing. The Boab Prison Tree still stands and is now a tourist attraction.

In culture

Adansonia grandidieri, Madagascar
Adansonia digitata, Tarangire National Park in Tanzania
Baobab in Recife. Possible inspiration for Saint Exupéry
  • The baobab is the national tree of Madagascar.[8]
  • Baobabs are also used for bonsai (the most popular being A. digitata).
  • The baobab is occasionally known colloquially as "upside-down tree". Cited in an Arabic legend in which the devil pulled out the tree and planted it upside down. It is also cited in older African lore: after creation, each of the animals was given a tree to plant and the hyena planted the baobab upside-down.
  • In Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's story The Little Prince, the Little Prince was worried that baobabs (described as "trees as big as churches") would grow on his small asteroid, take up all the space and even cause it to explode.
  • There is an important baobab tree in Kunta Kinte's village in The Gambia from Alex Haley's novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family.
  • Rafiki, in The Lion King, makes his home in a baobab tree.
  • Singer Regina Spektor has a song called Baobabs that was released on the special edition of "Begin To Hope" (2006).
  • Orchestra Baobab is a Senegalese band.
  • British/South African composer Andi Spicer wrote a piece for percussion called Baobab. There is also a version of the piece written for harpsichord.
  • Ernst Haeckel mentions "monkey bread-fruit trees (Adansonia)" in his The History of Creation (Chap. 29), and claims that their "individual life exceeds a period of five thousand years".
  • The owners of Sunland Farm in Limpopo, South Africa have built a pub called "The Big Baobab Pub" inside the hollow trunk of a 72ft high baobab. The tree, which is 155ft in circumference, is reported to have been carbon dated at over 6,000 years old.[9][10]
  • In the movie FernGully: The Last Rainforest, the evil spirit Hexxus is released when the baobab tree he is imprisoned in is cut down.

References and external links

  1. Judd & al.
  2. Judd & al.
  3. Angiosperm Phylogeny Website
  4. Senegal Online: Baobabs
  5. Wilson, R. T. (1988). Vital statistics of the baobab (Adansonia digitata). African Journal of Ecology 26 (3): 197-206.
  6. http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50231604/50231604se21?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=Sour+gourd&first=1&max_to_show=10&hilite=50231604se21
  7. Bioversity International: African fruit trees
  8. Natural Africa: Madagascar
  9. www.dailymail.co.uk Retrieved 2007-12-20
  10. www.timesonline.co.uk Retrieved 2007-12-20
Commons
Wikimedia Commons has media related to::

Gallery

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.