90 THALAMIFLOUiE. 



1 . Adansonia digitata. Baobab^ or Monkey Bread- 

 fruit. 



A. Baobab, GfBrtn. de Fruct. II. 253. t. 135. — A. digitata, 

 Cav. diss. V. 298. t. 15. 



HAB. Cultivated. 



FTj. June. 



The trunk is thickest at the base, where it is frequently 25 

 feet in diameter. The leaves are coixiposito-palmated, and are 

 deciduous in the month of November, leaving, for a time, the 

 branches bare. Flowers large, white. 



The Baobab is to be found in Senegal, and across Africa, as 

 far as Abyssinia. It has been introduced into this Island, and 

 may be frequently met with. It is the largest, and, according 

 to Adanson, the longest lived of organic bodies. This Natural- 

 ist found some trees in the Magdalene Islands, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Goree, which calculating, from some names inscribed 

 on them, dated in the 14th and 15th centuries, must have survived 

 upwards of 6000 years. Much has been said, respecting the 

 valuable properties of different parts of this tree. The Negroes 

 in Africa dry the young leaves, and mix them in a state of 

 powder with a dish called couscou, prepared by stewing yams, 

 or other similar roots with a small portion of animal food, in 

 order to improve the flavour and taste. They are under the 

 impression, that they have an effect in moderating excessive 

 perspiration. Adanson states, that, during his residence in 

 Africa, he took a pint of the infusion of the dried leaves every 

 morning and evening ; and he ascribes to this, his having es- 

 caped fever and diarrhoea, from which his companions suffered 

 severely. The bees in Abj'ssinia, according to Bruce, excavate 

 the stems^f the Baobab, and there build their hives; and he 

 states, that the honey is more esteemed, than what is procured 

 from other situations. We are informed, that in Africa, the 

 trunk, hollowed out, is employed as a coffin for persons of dis- 

 tinction ; and that the bodies are by this means preserved, as 

 if they had undergone the process of embalming. The fruit of 

 the Baobab has received the name of the Monkey Bread-fruit, 

 from its being a favourite food of that class of animals. It is 

 about the size of a lemon, and of a deep brown colour: the 

 cells are filled with an acid pulp, refreshing and agreeable to 

 the taste, and forming with sugar a cooling drink; resem- 

 bling lemonade, nnd much vecommended in fevers. It has been 

 given, according to Goldberry, a traveller in Africa, diflFused in 

 milk or water, for hemoptysis, and mixed with tamarinds, for 

 dysentery, and with gum for uterine discharges. We ai'e in- 

 formed by f/r Frank, that the caiavans, which arrive at Cairo 

 from Darfour and froii Niibia, are always provided with a snp- 

 ply of this fruit, Icst dysentery should make its appearance. 

 When a case ociMirs, ihe pafirnt is immediately confined to a 



