434 



it has occurred to me that a few notes on this " colossus of the vege- 

 table kingdom," even if they contain nothing new, may not be out of 

 place in the pages of ' The Phytologist.' 



The Baobab is a native of Senegal and other parts of the western 

 coast of Africa, from the Niger to Benin, " a part of the world," says 

 Adanson, " which has always been justly looked upon as the mother 

 of monsters." This celebrated French naturalist resided in Senegal 

 for about five years, and was probably the first botanist who had the 

 advantage of studying the Baobab in its native country. In 1756 

 M. Adanson communicated a very full account of this remarkable tree 

 to the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris; his paper, together with 

 an admirable summary of it, were published in the Memoires of the 

 Academy in 1761, and appear to be the chief source whence subse- 

 quent writers have derived their knowledge of the Baobab. 



A letter from Adanson to Linnaeus, written four years after the re- 

 turn of the former from Senegal, and previously to the publication of 

 the memoir mentioned above, contains the characters of his new ge- 

 nus, and several remarks upon it ; the following is an extract from this 

 letter, which is printed in the ' Correspondence of Linnaeus and other 

 Naturalists,' ii. 467. 



" Paris, Oct. 2, 1758. 



" Among numerous new otservations in natural history wiiicli I have formerly com- 

 municated to the Academie des Sciences, is a complete description of the Bahobab, 

 which Bernard de Jussieu has named Adansonia, and of which I had long ago given a 

 description hefore your letter reached me. B. de Jussieu had refrained from sending 

 you this description during my absence, that he might not deprive me of the opportu- 

 Jiity of giving you pleasure. I therefore now send the essential parts of the character 

 which you ask for, taken from the Memoirs of the Academy intended for publication, 

 or rather from my own Latin manuscripts, according to the plan of your Genera 

 Plantarum, as I mean to give them to the public. 



" Adansonia. 



" Calyx. Perianth simple, of one leaf, cup-shaped, divided half way down into 

 five revolute segments, deciduous. [Fig. c]. 



" Corolla. Petals five,* nearly orbicular, ribbed, revoluie, united by their claws to 

 the stamens and to each other. [Fig. 5]. 



" Stamina. Filaments numerous (about 700), united in their lower part into a co- 

 nical tube, which they crown at the top, spreading horizontally. — [Fig. rf.] Anthers 

 kidney-shaped, incumbent. 



"Pistil. Ovary nearly ovate. Style very long, tubular, variously twisted. Stig- 

 mas from 10 to 14, prismatic, shaggy, spreading from the centre. 



* In Adanson's figure of the flower, of which fig. b at p. 436 is a fac-simile, four 

 petals only are shown ; in his separate figure of the corolla there are five petals, which 

 is the normal number. 



