BAOBABS ON THE SENEGAL RIVER. 299 



,' 



Among the most remarkable of the vegetable pro- 

 ducts of this open steppe region, the gigantic Baobab 

 (Adansonia Digitata] deserves at least a few words 

 of passing notice. The range of this curious tree 

 extends over the whole of tropical Africa, wherever 

 tracts of bush country (of which it is essentially a habitant) 

 occur to furnish locations suited to its peculiar habits: 

 for as we have already intimated, such situations, as 

 for instance dry, elevated highlands, are found here and 

 there throughout Equatorial Africa, where the Baobab 

 seems to flourish as freely as in the vicinity of the 

 tropic, which appears to be its natural home. * 



This remarkable tree which belongs to the family 

 of the Malvacece, was first brought into notice, about 

 1749, by the French naturalist Michel Adanson, after 

 whom it has been named, and by whom some gigantic 

 specimens were discovered on the Senegal River ; some 

 of which were estimated by him to be upwards of 5000 

 years old f : a result which he obtained by comparing 

 them with the size of smaller specimens whose age 

 was ascertainable by sectional cuttings of their stems. 

 There can be no doubt that these strange misshapen 

 trees are not only among the most long-lived, but 

 also among the most ancient (according to Humboldt, 

 the German philosopher, probably the most ancient) of 

 all known species of arborescent growths; and the 

 Boabab is in all probability a relic of the vegetation 

 of the primeval world, transmitted to us through periods 

 of immense antiquity. 



The peculiar torpid habit of growth of these vege- 



* A pair of fairly good specimens of the Baobab are to be seen in 

 the Botanic gardens at Bombay. These are of course small trees but 

 give a good idea of the habit of growth of the larger natural specimens. 



j Smith's Dictionary of Economic Plants, 1882. 



