Skip to content

SANParks.org Forums

View unanswered posts | View active topics






Post new topic Reply to topic  Page 1 of 4
 [ 56 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: Tree: Baobab (Adansonia digitata)
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 2:27 pm 
Offline
Senior Virtual Ranger
Senior Virtual Ranger
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:52 pm
Posts: 1765
Location: My business...
Let's see how well you know this tree. It has 8 known uses - that's the tree and whatever it carries. Let's see who gets them all first!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 2:34 pm 
Offline
Honorary Virtual Ranger
Honorary Virtual Ranger
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 5:42 pm
Posts: 18634
Location: Red sand, why do I keep thinking of red sand?
1. Repairs hippo/rhino skin.

_________________
Arriving currently: The photos from our trip! Overhere! :yaya:

Feel free to use any of these additional letters to correct the spelling of words found in the above post: a-e-t-n-d-i-o-s-m-l-u-y-h-c


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 2:42 pm 
Offline
Senior Virtual Ranger
Senior Virtual Ranger
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:52 pm
Posts: 1765
Location: My business...
I hope you're serious DQ ...... I swear, if you're up to something again ...... :?


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 2:51 pm 
Offline
Honorary Virtual Ranger
Honorary Virtual Ranger
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 5:42 pm
Posts: 18634
Location: Red sand, why do I keep thinking of red sand?
Totally serious, did you not read the story about the porcupine quill?
1. Repairs hippo/rhino.
2. Fruit and leaves are edible
3. Medicine, (Fever, diarrhoea, malaria, haemoptysis and scorbutic complaints (vitamin C deficiency).
4. Ropemaking (from the bark, see point 1.)

_________________
Arriving currently: The photos from our trip! Overhere! :yaya:

Feel free to use any of these additional letters to correct the spelling of words found in the above post: a-e-t-n-d-i-o-s-m-l-u-y-h-c


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 2:57 pm 
Offline
Senior Virtual Ranger
Senior Virtual Ranger
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:52 pm
Posts: 1765
Location: My business...
That makes it 9 uses then - not one of those I have! 8) That gives you 3.5 out of nine as the edible part is a little more specific than what you've said. Vit C and rope bit - 100% correct.

I never knew this tree had such interesting uses! :shock:
I'm onto trees now - so I'll be bombarding you with stuff I'm learning. :lol:


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 4:08 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:22 pm
Posts: 140
Location: Born and Bred in SA, Living in NZ
This is quoted out of one of my books so I can't take credit for it;

Making the most of Indigenous Trees wrote:
During the rainy season when the trees are in leaf, it is a good fodder tree, especially for game (elephant, kudu, nyala and impala). At the end of the season cattle eat the fallen leaves. Various game species and cattle relish the fallen flowers. Elephant sometimes destroy vast numbers of baobab trees by tearing off pieces of the stem for moisture. The only way to save these trees is to restrict the number of elephant in the area. The roots can be tapped for water and the young roots cooked and eaten. Fibre from the inner bark is used for rope, baskets, nets and fishing lines. The young leaves are cooked and eaten as spinach or can be dried and powdered to be used later. The leaves are rich in vitamin C, sugars and potassium tartrate. The acid pith of the fruit is rich in ascorbic acid and can be used to make a refreshing drink. Seeds can be eaten fresh or dry or roasted to provide a substitute for coffee. The pulp and seeds have a high nutritional value and are recommended for feeding to stock late in the dry season when grazing is poor. The baobab is a popular species for bonsai specimens. The South African "Baobab Style" originated from this species.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 4:15 pm 
Offline
Senior Virtual Ranger
Senior Virtual Ranger
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:52 pm
Posts: 1765
Location: My business...
I've just been given 3 more - there are now 12 uses for the tree! One wasn't on your list C, someone else told me this one.

C - 5/12!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 4:25 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:22 pm
Posts: 140
Location: Born and Bred in SA, Living in NZ
:? Hmm.... I know some more unconventional uses that people have used this tree for. List being; A toilet :shock: , a bar/pub :D . I also know that some of the bushmen used it to gather water from the hollows as well as a meeting or hiding place in the much bigger hollows. The industrial sector uses the fruit to make kremetaart or creme of tartar. Other than that, I'm lost :?:


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 4:49 pm 
Offline
Senior Virtual Ranger
Senior Virtual Ranger
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:52 pm
Posts: 1765
Location: My business...
C = 9/12


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 07, 2005 11:35 pm 
Offline
Junior Virtual Ranger
Junior Virtual Ranger
User avatar

Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 12:13 am
Posts: 292
Location: Wondering if I'll ever get back to SA!
Fishing floats are made from the wood.
Juice from the bark can be inserted into a poisoned arrow wound to stop the poison from spreading.
Flour can be made from the roots.,

Dr Livingstone apparently called the Baobab "the giant upturned carrot".


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
Unread postPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 12:09 am 
Offline
Junior Virtual Ranger
Junior Virtual Ranger
User avatar

Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 11:21 pm
Posts: 156
Location: UK
ceruleanwildfire wrote:
:? Hmm.... I know some more unconventional uses that people have used this tree for. List being; A toilet :shock: , a bar/pub :D . I also know that some of the bushmen used it to gather water from the hollows as well as a meeting or hiding place in the much bigger hollows. The industrial sector uses the fruit to make kremetaart or creme of tartar. Other than that, I'm lost :?:


There is a baobab in Ombalantu, Namibia that has been used at a Post Office, a chapel and a hiding place during tribal wars, among other uses. It seems that this tree is possibly the most versatile plant in the world!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
Unread postPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 7:32 am 
Offline
Senior Virtual Ranger
Senior Virtual Ranger
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:52 pm
Posts: 1765
Location: My business...
This tree blew my mind. I never realised how versatile it was. This is what I got from books:

1. Among the branches you'll find a cavity often filled with water - even in the driest months, and anyone willing to climb a tree will be able to quench his thirst.
2. The leaves can be boiled for something the equivalent of spinach.
3. Seeds can either be eaten as is or ground and used as replacement for coffee.
4. The fruit is a rich source of calcium and Vit C.
5. The fruit contains tartaric acid used to make sherbet.
6. The spongy wood can be processed into ropes.
7. San Bushmen use the seeds as an anti-dote to Strophantin, a common plant-derived arrow poison. (This one DuQues sent me as we got totally immersed in this magic tree!)
8. Makes good fodder for game in dry months.
9. Roots can be tapped for water.
10. Fruit is also used in making Cream of Tartar (See 5).
11. Roots are used to make a soluble red dye, leaves a soluble green dye.
12. The hard fruit shells are used as pots for food and drink.
13. The pollen from the tree is used to manufacture a quite acceptable glue.
14. It's a popular Bonsai Species.
15. Some of the more unconventional uses - bar, toilet, gathering place etc. :lol:

If this were a human - one 8) dude! :lol:


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
Unread postPosted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:00 am 
Offline
Honorary Virtual Ranger
Honorary Virtual Ranger
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 5:42 pm
Posts: 18634
Location: Red sand, why do I keep thinking of red sand?
OK, You forgot some salient points:
16. Repairs hippo/rhino hide (Proof!)
17. Reminds people that even Gods can make mistakes. (Bushman tales again, they thought it was planted upsidedown).

The food use should have been very easy for the Dutch (And Belgians) as the Dutch name for Baobab is apenbroodboom. (Monkeybreadtree).

For an indepth report on the uses, nutricional value, distribution, and research, visit here. Bit of a long read, readers of this thread will mostly be interested in Chapter 5, Domestic food uses and local processing.
Pictures of all the species of Baobab can be found throughout the report. (Bushman hole, Chapter 2, just like the bar.)

_________________
Arriving currently: The photos from our trip! Overhere! :yaya:

Feel free to use any of these additional letters to correct the spelling of words found in the above post: a-e-t-n-d-i-o-s-m-l-u-y-h-c


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
Unread postPosted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 9:51 am 
Offline
Honorary Virtual Ranger
Honorary Virtual Ranger
User avatar

Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2005 5:42 pm
Posts: 18634
Location: Red sand, why do I keep thinking of red sand?
Yet another little fact which we overlooked:

Devils dwell in baobabs, awaiting their victims. It is said that if you put your ear to the trunk, you can hear them laughing. Some African people sing when they pass baobab trees at night, so as not to be influenced by the spirits' voices. The flowers, too, contain spirits, and anyone who picks them will be eaten by a lion.

(From the Ghosts and Magic in the Kruger National Park page, which you can find here.)
Thanx WTM!

_________________
Arriving currently: The photos from our trip! Overhere! :yaya:

Feel free to use any of these additional letters to correct the spelling of words found in the above post: a-e-t-n-d-i-o-s-m-l-u-y-h-c


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Baobabs in Kruger (Photo's)
Unread postPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 6:48 am 
Offline
Legendary Virtual Ranger
Legendary Virtual Ranger
User avatar

Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2004 10:27 am
Posts: 5349
Location: Chasing down the rarities
In the Makuleke area between the Levuuu river and the Pafuri gate. Not too far from the bridge side.
Image

_________________
Latest Lifer(s): Sooty Falcon, Black Coucal, Short-tailed Pipit, Thick-billed Cuckoo, Stierling's Wren-Warbler (639)
Follow me as I bird on Twitter @wildtuinman

http://www.laine-dirk.co.za


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 56 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group

Webcams Highlights

Addo Nossob Orpen Satara
Addo Nossob Orpen Satara
Submitted by Anonymous at 18:02:06 Submitted by nicholaslw58 at 19:18:01 Submitted by nicholaslw58 at 16:40:37 Submitted by Philip1 at 18:45:24