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baobab
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fony baobab
fony baobab Fony baobab tree (Adansonia rubrostipa), estimated to be more than 1,000 years old, in Madagascar.

baobab

tree genus
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Also known as: Adansonia
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Melissa Petruzzello
Melissa Petruzzello is Assistant Managing Editor and covers a range of content including plants, algae, and fungi; insects and spiders; and renewable energy and environmental engineering. She has her M.S....
Melissa Petruzzello
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baobab, (genus Adansonia), genus of nine species of deciduous trees of the hibiscus, or mallow, family (Malvaceae). Six of the species (Adansonia grandidieri, A. madagascariensis, A. perrieri, A. rubrostipa, A. suarezensis, and A. za) are endemic to Madagascar, two (A. digitata and A. kilima) are native to mainland Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and one (A. gregorii) is native to northwestern Australia. They have unusual barrel-like trunks and are known for their extraordinary longevity and ethnobotanical importance. Given their peculiar shape, an Arabian legend has it that “the devil plucked up the baobab, thrust its branches into the earth, and ...(100 of 637 words)

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