For many of our compatriots, the name baobab is mainly associated with the words of Vysotsky: “But if you are dumb like a tree, you will be born a baobab And you will be a baobab for thousands of years while you die.” And this is not surprising, because they learn about this tree from the school curriculum, and even that one is quite brief.
Even those who visited Africa, in the homeland of the baobab, not everyone could see these unusual trees, because they grow only in certain places: in the central and southern regions of Africa, on the island of Madagascar and in western Australia.
Although in these places the conditions are far from comfortable for vegetation, due to the very arid climate, but due to their special structure, baobabs are able to accumulate moisture for the future in short rainy seasons, which happen once a year, and then spend it economically throughout of the year.
Not only that, baobabs are flowering trees. Once a year, flowers appear on the branches of baobabs, all at once, and bloom just one night. Baobab flowers are large with a pleasant smell. At this time, insects, birds and bats drink the nectar of these unusual flowers. Little monkeys generally just eat them. However, in the morning the flowers wither, and begin to smell of rot.
This short flowering period does not allow these flowers to be seen not only by tourists, but also by many locals. And the flowers of baobabs are very beautiful, and each type of baobab has absolutely different flowers. Well, as they say: than to hear a hundred times, it is better to see once.
No matter how different the flowers of exotic baobab trees are, they are all fruitful. After flowering, a rounded or oblong shape fruit is formed in their place with seeds inside, by which this tree propagates. Fruits come in different sizes, from 10 to 30 cm. They are edible and used for various purposes. From them get flour used in the preparation of drinks like lemonade. Therefore, baobabs are often called a lemonade tree. And the fruits themselves serve as food for the monkeys, hence another name for “monkey breadfruit”. Baobab fruits are widely used in medicine and cosmetology. Since baobabs grow very slowly, it has become fashionable to grow them at home like dwarf bonsai.
