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Adansonia grandidieri

(Monkey-Bread Tree)

Overview

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Endangered
Threat status

Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

Baobab, Giant Baobab, Monkey-Bread Tree

Common Names in French:

Baobab De Madagascar, Baobab Malgache

Common Names in Malagasi:

Renala

Description

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Family Bombacaceae

Trees , usually large, often deciduous; trunks sometimes spiny , often buttressed ; bark fibrous , with mucilaginous exudates ; indumentum usually stellate or tufted . Leaves alternate, spiral ; stipules inconspicuous, caducous ; petiole pulvinate ; leaf blade often palmately compound (simple and lobed in Ochroma), margin often entire. Inflorescences axillary , 1(or 2) -flowered, rarely many-flowered. Flowers bisexual , actinomorphic , large and showy. Epicalyx of 3 bracts, inconspicuous and caducous. Calyx shortly cylindrical, truncate , or irregularly 3-5-lobed, sometimes splitting . Petals 5, joined at base with androecium and falling as one unit , imbricate. Stamens usually very many (3-15 in Ceiba) ; filaments usually united in lower half into a filament tube around style, tube sometimes lobed, with stamens in 5 groups with completely united filaments and sessile anthers ; anthers usually 1-celled, apparently 2-celled and non-septate in Ceiba, sometimes many anthers united into an apparent many-celled "super-anther"; pollen usually spheroidal , ± smooth , reticulate ; staminodes absent. Ovary superior, syncarpous , carpels usually 5; ovules 2 to many per locule, axile , anatropous ; style 5-lobed. Fruit a 5-valved capsule, or hard and indehiscent (e.g. , Adansonia), many-seeded with seeds often embedded in endocarp hairs (kapok), less often fruit winged or juicy and few-seeded. Seeds sometimes winged .

About 30 genera and ca. 250 species: found widely in tropics, especially tropical America; three genera (two introduced ) and five species (two introduced) in China.

See the comments under the Malvaceae (p. 264) for the relationships of the Bombacaceae.

Durio Adanson was at one time associated with this family but has always been regarded as anomalous and molecular data show it to be most closely related to the Helicteroideae (Sterculiaceae) but so distinct morphologically that it might better be placed in its own family or subfamily .[1]

Physical Description

Habit: Deciduous.

Flowers: Flower Color: near white, white

Size/Age/Growth

Size: over 40' tall.

Habitat

Ecology: It probably occurred in dry deciduous forest , frequently close to bodies of water, but mature trees are now largely found in degraded agricultural lands where regeneration is poor.[2]

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Space over 40' apart.

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

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Notes

Publishing author : Baill. Publication : Hist. pl. Madag., Atlas (1888) t. 79 E, 79 A.

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Adansonia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 24 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

A. alba · A. bahobab · A. baobab · A. bernieri · A. bozy · A. digitata (Baobab of Mahajanga (Madagascar)) · A. fony · A. gibbosa (Australian Bottle Tree) · A. grandidieri (Monkey-Bread Tree) · A. gregorii (Australian Bottle Tree) · A. integrifolia · A. madagascariensis · A. microphylla · A. pedunculosa · A. perrieri · A. rubrostipa (Baobab) · A. scutula · A. situla · A. somalensis · A. sphaerocarpa · A. stanburyana · A. suarezensis · A. sulcata · A. za (Baobab)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 15, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Qiner Yang & Michael G. Gilbert "Bombacaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 264, 299. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008. [back]
Last Revised: 7/2/2009