Bombaceae. 147 
comes bare during the dry season and in the rainy season brings 
forth leaves and flowers, the latter very large and usually six inches 
in diameter. The specific name, digitata, refers to the five-fingered 
leaves ( digit us=i\nger) . It has been introduced into a great many 
tropical countries, especially into India, where it is plentiful on the 
coasts cf Bombay and Madras. In Honolulu there are only a few- 
trees ; the most noteworthy are the one growing in the grounds of the 
Board of Agriculture and Forestry and another (here figured) in 
the Queen's Hospital grounds near the Vineyard Street entrance. 
In Africa it extends from the Senegal to Abyssinia. It has been 
termed "the oldest organic monument of our planet." Adanson, a 
famous French traveler who lived in Senegal from 1749 to 1754, 
and after whom the tree is named, calculated that a tree thirty feet 
in diameter was over five thousand years of age. He saw trees five 
to six feet in diameter, on the barks of which were cut European 
names, one dated in the fourteenth and another in the fifteenth 
century. 
When the bark is bruised it exudes a large quantity of white, 
semifluid, odorless and tasteless gum. The bark yields a strong and 
useful fibre, and the tree has on that account been urged for culti- 
vation. In Senegal it is made into rope and even woven into cloth 
by negroes, who also make canoes from the very soft wood. Small 
trees yield finer fibre than old ones. The fibre is exported and manu- 
factured into paper especially suitable for bank notes. The leaves, 
bark, and especially the fruit, abound in mucilage. The pulp of the 
fruit has a pleasant, cool taste, and is a good refrigerant in fever. 
The negroes powder the dry leaves, which the)- call lalo, and use 
for excessive perspiration. The fruit varies in size and shape. It 
often reaches a length of more than twelve inches and a diameter 
of three to four inches, but occasionally has the shape of a gourd. It 
contains many brown seeds, is slightly acid, and produces a rather 
pleasant drink. The negroes eat the fruits. Owing to the softness 
of the wood of the Baobab, the trees are often hollowed out by the 
natives of Africa and used for dwelling houses; one of the trees 
has been found sufficiently large to accommodate about thirty people. 
The natives employ the ashes of the fruits and bark, boiled in oil, 
as soap. 
The genus Adansonia contains three species, the one discussed 
here, one peculiar to Madagascar, and a third known only from 
North Australia, where it is called Sour-Cucumber Tree, on account 
of its fruits. 
