A Tree as a Friend (Machine)

Adansonia is a genus of eight species of tree, six native to Madagascar, one native to mainland Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and one to Australia. The mainland African species also occurs on Madagascar, but it is not a native of that island.

A typical common name is baobab. Other common names include boab, boaboa, bottle tree, upside-down tree, and monkey bread tree. The generic name honours Michel Adanson, the French naturalist and explorer who described A. digitata.

Adansonias reach heights of 5 to 30 metres (16 to 98 ft) and have trunk diameters of 7 to 11 metres (23 to 36 ft). Glencoe Baobab - an African Baobab specimen in Limpopo Province, South Africa, often considered the largest example alive, up to recent times had a circumference of 47 metres (154 ft).^[2] Its diameter is estimated at about 15.9 metres (52 ft). Recently the tree split up into two parts and it is possible that the stoutest tree now is Sunland Baobab, also in South Africa. Diameter of this tree is 10.64 m, approximate circumference - 33.4 metres.

Some baobabs are reputed to be many thousands of years old, which is difficult to verify as the wood does not produce annual growth rings, though radiocarbon dating may be able to provide age data.

            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. All occur in seasonally arid areas, and are deciduous, shedding their leaves during the dry season

Uses

Since 2008, there has been increasing interest for developing baobab as a nutrient-rich raw material for consumer products.

The leaves are commonly used as a leaf vegetable throughout the area of mainland African distribution, including Malawi, Zambia, 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 nutritious, possibly having more vitamin C than oranges, and exceeding the calcium content of cow's milk. The dry fruit pulp separated from seeds and fibers is eaten directly or mixed into porridge or milk, and is also known as "sour gourd" or "monkey's bread". In Malawi, the fruit pulp is used to make a nutrient-rich juice. In Zimbabwe, the fruit is known as mawuyu in the Shona language and has long been a traditional fruit. In the coastal areas of Kenya, baobab seeds are called mbuyu and are cooked with sugar, colored, and sold as a snack. Mabuyu is also the term used in Tanzania for seeds of the calabash gourd, which are prepared in a similar fashion.

The fruit can be used to produce cream of tartar. 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 "umbuyu".

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 fiber, dye, and fuel.

The dry pulp is either eaten fresh or used to add to gruels on cooling after cooking – a good way of preserving the vitamin contents. It can also be ground to make a refreshing drink with a pleasing wine-gum flavour. In Tanzania, it is added to aid fermentation of sugar cane for beer making.

Pulp can be stored for fairly long periods for use in soft drink production, but it needs airtight containers. Storage is improved by the use of sodium metabisulphite (Ibiyemi et al., 1988). It can also be frozen if ground to a powder.

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 baobab south of Derby, Western Australia was used in the 1890s as a prison for Aboriginal convicts on their way to Derby for sentencing. The Boab Prison Tree still stands and is now a tourist attraction.

The whole fruit of the baobab is not available in the EU, as current EU legislation from 1997 dictates that foods not commonly consumed in the EU have to be formally approved before going on sale. On 15 July 2008, the EU authorized the use of Baobab Dried Fruit Pulp as a food ingredient in smoothies and cereal bars. More recently, Baobab Dried Fruit Pulp achieved GRAS status for these same food uses

Traditional uses of the whole fruit are unlikely outside of Africa, as the fruit will be processed for export as a white powder with a cheese-like texture to be used as an ingredient in products.

The Giant Baobab trees are 'rare' in India.Imported by Abyssinian -Ethipians -slaves and sailors for its fruits which gives a 'monkey bread or lemonade drink 'fruity flesh .
You see these trees in abandon at Mandu Madhya Pradesh  heritage city .Go and see this palce after rains as teak trees blooms all over behind huge baobab trees.Probably the slaves were from Africa who built the city partly!! You will see many huge trees used as bar pubs home on net images of baobab trees.They stor water like a camel and this is its fruits lemoni in taste,

ADANSONIA DIGIATATA NAMED  a french surgeon !! These colonolialists who think because they found it then they own it all!!Real african names are isimuhu in zulu , isimaku umshimulu ximuwu etc.monkey bread tree or lemonade tree cream of tartar tree of family Bombacea.

Synthetic Tree Soaks Up Carbon 1000x Faster Than the Real Thing

Baobab Trees These baobab trees, native to Africa and Australia, are an important part of the Madagascar deciduous forest. Some baobabs are believed to be thousands of years old, but since the wood does not create annual growth rings, it is difficult to track their growth. The trees are a hardy breed though, with some Madagascar species growing directly out of limestone rock. Warwick Sloss

Trees are great absorbers of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and inhibitors of climate change -- that's why treehuggers hug them so much. But leave it to humanity to engineer a better tree. A synthetic tree, currently being tested as a prototype, ensnares carbon about 1,000 times faster than a real tree.

The "tree" uses plastic leaves that capture the carbon dioxide in a chamber. The carbon dioxide is then compressed into liquid form. The tree captures the carbon without the need for direct sunlight, which means that, unlike traditional trees, the synthetic trees can be stored in enclosed places such as barns, used anywhere, and transported from one site to another regardless of conditions.

Lackner says the captured CO₂ could be used to create fuel for jet engines and cars, the two most common carbon emitters. In other cases, the CO₂ could be used to enhance current production of vegetable produce.

Klaus Lackner, a professor at Columbia University who is developing the tree, met with U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu last month to talk about the concept. In an interview with CNN, Lackner said the synthetic tree is "several hundred times better at collecting CO₂" than windmill generators. Lackner says that for every 1,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide collected, the tree emits just 200 kilograms. This ratio is more than enough to warrant the relatively high cost of building the trees (about the same as a new automobile) or retrofitting coal plants.

Each synthetic tree could collect about 90,000 tons of carbon per year.