Bizarre Baobabs

At first glance, it looks as if someone has stuck sparse foliage onto the body of an elephant. On the second, one realises that this is, in reality, a tree: with a bark that looks like an elephant’s skin — greyish-brown, folded, pitted and wrinkled; with a grossly swollen trunk, fluted at the bottom, looking like an elephant’s body and legs; and with enormous, bulbous, almost bare branches. This bizarre tree is the baobab.

Baobab trees (Adansonia digitata) are trees native to the African continent, and are thought to have been brought to Sri Lanka by Arab traders around 700 AD. It is believed that these Arab traders, who brought camels, also brought baobab trees — whose leaves were used to feed these animals. The name baobab is thought to be a corruption of the Egyptian word bu hibab, used by merchants of Cairo to describe the many seeds inside the fruit. These trees, also known as ‘Upside down trees’ are so named because their sparse foliage and meagre crowns give the trees the appearance of bearing roots instead of branches. The scientific name commemorates Michael Adanson, a French naturalist, who first described the tree.

In Sri Lanka, these trees — called Ali gas in Sinhalese and Perukku maram in Tamil — are now found mainly on Mannar Island, in Jaffna and Puttalam. There is also a record of a tree near the western border of Wilpattu National Park. 

These trees are tall (up to 30m), and their swollen trunks are colossal. The largest baobab in the world is believed to be in South Africa and has a circumference at breast height, of 34 metres; while the oldest tree is in Namibia, carbon-dated to about 1,275 years. The oldest (reported to be over 700 years old) and the largest individual baobab tree in Sri Lanka, found at Pallimunai, has an information board next it that says its circumference is 19.5 metres. I came back to Colombo and measured the perimeter of the smallest bedroom in my house and it was only 13.3 m!

The engorged trunks have an extraordinary capacity to store water — each trunk can store as much as 120,000 litres of water. The high storage capacity is facilitated by an extensive root system, which can search for precious water in the harsh and arid areas of the African continent in which this tree is native. During the dry season, the tree uses up the stored water and the trunk can shrink, losing 1,500 litres. The sparse foliage contributes to water conservation (water loss usually occurs through transpiration from leaves).   

Hanging down amid the foliage are baobab flowers: showy, pale creamish-white, with a host of stamens. Research in other countries has shown that these flowers are pollinated by fruit bats. Oblong hanging fruits develop, and can grow to about 20 centimetres. These fruits have a hard, woody, greyish-green shell with a fuzz and a dry, white pulp inside, with many seeds. It is believed that there are 30 seeds per fruit, and therefore, the baobab is also commonly called the Judas bag, because according to the Bible, Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

The baobab is a multi-purpose tree in Africa. The fruit pulp, rich in vitamin C, is eaten, mixed in porridge or made into drinks. A five-month market survey showed that 200 tons of baobab seeds in pulp generated about 30,000 US dollars for 139 rural populations that are involved in selling pulp. Seeds are used as thickener for soups and leaves, as a vegetable. Fibres from the bark are used to make rope and string while the roots produce a dye.

Hollows in the tree made by lightning provide means for innovative use as toilets, shops and bus stops. In Australia, a hollow tree was used as a prison for convicts in the 19^th century and is now a tourist attraction.

Roots, bark, leaves, fruits and seeds are used medicinally for an enormous range of ailments, among the more common of which are iron deficiency, digestive system disorders, infections and skin problems.

It is also culturally important in Africa. Villagers gather under the shade of its massive branches to talk and consider it the listening tree. In animist communities, the baobab is seen as a God who lives among people. In some African myths, it is believed that the baobab was given to the hyena, which threw it away, and it landed and grew upended, hence its root-like branches. In some countries it is believed that the flowers house spirits.  In Sri Lanka, legend has it that the baobab was not satisfied with its looks and wanted to be tall like the coconut palm. Then it wanted pretty flowers like the flamboyant, and later, fruits like the banyan tree. In exasperation, the gods uprooted the baobab and planted it upside down to teach it a lesson. 

There are eight species of baobab growing naturally in the drier parts of Africa, in the Arabian Peninsula and in Australia. Six of these species are restricted to Madagascar and one to Australia. The commonest is Adansonia digitata found in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.  

Although they were introduced to Sri Lanka, these baobab trees are now an essential part of the coastal biological diversity of the areas in which they are found on the island, particularly in Mannar. It is estimated that there are about 40 baobabs in Sri Lanka, of which, the bulk is found on Mannar Island.

It is believed that although these baobabs do reproduce and produce saplings, wild donkeys and ponies found on Mannar Island (also brought by the Arabs in ancient times) eat these saplings so that natural regeneration is practically non-existent. 

 The baobabs of Sri Lanka are protected by gazette notification, under the Antiquities Ordinance of 1954. Yet, there are threats to these living antiquities all over the island.  The trees in Puttalam are gone. Development upstream in Kala Oya, which feeds the tree in Wilpattu, may pose a threat to its survival. And there are threats looming also in the quiet area of Mannar. Two other trees had been destroyed, leaving fewer trees standing. Thus, there developed an urgent need for protecting the baobabs of Mannar, for their intrinsic and historic value.

The Al-Azhar Fisheries Co-operative Society, comprising 420 fishermen, decided to do something about these threats to the baobabs of Mannar. With a small grant from Mangroves for the Future, these fishermen with technical support from an officer from the Coast Conservation and Coastal Resource Management Department, simply built low, protective walls round the baobab trees and added some boards to create awareness. These boards carry information in all three languages.  

In addition, workshop to create awareness about the antiquity value of these baobabs was held for 30 fishermen who live near these trees.

These simple measures have served to attract local and foreign tourists to look at these trees. 

These are small steps for conservation, but they help.