Adansonia gregorii

Last updated

Boab
Derby boab, Western Australia.jpg
Adansonia gregorii, the boab
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Genus: Adansonia
Species:
A. gregorii
Binomial name
Adansonia gregorii
Adansoniagregorii1.png
Occurrence records from GBIF [2]

Adansonia gregorii, commonly known as the boab and also known by a number of other names, is a tree in the family Malvaceae, endemic to the northern regions of Western Australia and the Northern Territory of Australia.

Contents

Names

Boab near Kununurra, WA Boab tree near Kununurra WA.jpg
Boab near Kununurra, WA

The specific name "gregorii" honours the Australian explorer Augustus Gregory. [3] [4]

The common name "boab" is a shortened form of the generic common name "boabab", and is the most widely recognised common name. It does, however, have a large number of other common names. Similar names include:

Gadawon [9] is one of the names used by the local Aboriginal Australian groups. Other names include larrgadi [10] or larrgadiy, which is widespread in the Nyulnyulan languages of the Western Kimberley.[ citation needed ]

Other names include:

Habitat

Endemic to Australia, boab occurs in the Kimberley region of Western Australia [13] and east into the Northern Territory. It is the only baobab to occur in Australia, the others being native to Madagascar and mainland Africa [10] and the Arabian Peninsula. [14] There are various theories as to how the tree got to Australia, with A. gregorii and Adansonia digitata, its African relative, being very similar genetically. [10]

It can grow from sea level up to about 300 m (980 ft) in altitude, and is most often found in open forest and rocky areas, but is also seen in monsoon forest. [11]

Description

Adansonia gregorii branch Adansonia gregorii 1zz.jpg
Adansonia gregorii branch

As with other baobabs, Adansonia gregorii is easily recognised by the swollen base of its trunk, which forms a massive caudex, giving the tree a bottle-like appearance. [13] Boab ranges from 5–15 m (16–49 ft) in height, usually 9–12 m (30–39 ft), with a broad bottle-shaped trunk, [15] up to 5 m (16 ft) in diameter. [10]

A. gregorii is deciduous, losing its leaves during the dry winter period and producing new leaves and large white flowers between December and May, [15] up to 75 mm (3.0 in) long. [10] The flowers open at night, and have a calyx about 6 cm (2.4 in) long. The inner surface is densely sericeous. [11]

Boabs are pollinated by the convolvulus hawk-moth Agrius convolvuli . [16]

The tree's bark has a remarkable property, in that it can maintain inscribed markings for long periods of time, over more than a century. [11] Some specimens of the African relative of boabs have been estimated to live close to 2,000 years, but the Australian ones are not as well-documented. [10]

Uses

Boab in the Kimberley Boab tree in February, Kimberley region, Western Australia.jpg
Boab in the Kimberley

The plant has a wide variety of uses; most parts are edible and it is the source of a number of materials. Its medicinal products and the ability to store water through dry seasons has been exploited. [17] Aboriginal Australians obtained water from the tree, owing to its ability to store huge amounts of water; some of the oldest and largest trees can hold more than 100,000 L (22,000 imp gal; 26,000 US gal) of water in their trunks. [10] They also use the white powder that fills the seed pods (or pith, said to taste like sherbet [11] or cream of tartar [10] ) as a food.

Decorative paintings or carvings were sometimes made on the outer surface of the fruit. [10]

The bark and leaves are used medicinally, in particular for digestive ailments. [18]

The root fibres are used to create string. [11]

The 1889 book Useful native plants of Australia states that "The dry acidulous pulp of the fruit is eaten. It has an agreeable taste, like cream of tartar". [19]

European use of the trees has included letter boxes and jails. [11]

The leaves may see a future use prepared as food, due to their high iron content. [18] The leaves can be boiled and eaten as a spinach; the seeds can be ground and used as a coffee-like beverage, and fermenting the pulp creates a type of beer. [10]

Notable trees

Boab Prison Tree Boab Prison Tree.jpg
Boab Prison Tree

A large hollow boab south of Derby, Western Australia is reputed to have been used in the 1890s as a lockup for Aboriginal prisoners on their way to Derby for sentencing. The Boab Prison Tree, Derby is now a tourist attraction. [20]

Another hollow boab near Wyndham, Western Australia was also used as a prison tree. The Hillgrove Lockup or Wyndham Prison Tree is on the King River Road out of Wyndham near the Moochalabra Dam. [21] [22] [23] [24] There is also a boab tree located within the Wyndham Caravan Park that is billed as "the biggest boab in captivity". [25]

Gija Jumulu is a large boab which was transported from Warmun in the Kimberley region to Kings Park in the Western Australian capital city, Perth in 2008. As of 2019 the tree was growing well, after an initial period showing signs of stress after the move, demonstrating the adaptability of the species in a different climate. [10]

Gregory's Tree, in the Gregory's Tree Historical Reserve at Timber Creek, NT, is an Aboriginal sacred site and a registered Australian heritage site. The boab tree marks the site of a camp of the explorer Augustus Charles Gregory, and is inscribed with the dates of his party's arrival and departure, from October 1855 to July 1856. [3] [4]

Dendroglyphs

In 2021, a collaborative project to find and trace histories etched in boab trees in the Kimberley was launched. Funded by the Australian Research Council, archaeologists from the Australian National University (ANU), the University of Western Australia, the University of Canberra, and University of Notre Dame Australia are working with Aboriginal communities and using advanced technology (photogrammetry [26] ) to record 3D images of carvings on the trees. [12] It is "the first systematic survey and recording program of carved boab trees in Australia". [26]

In October 2022, the team published the results of their recent survey of such trees in the Tanami Desert. [27] The survey records the tree markings, also known as dendroglyphs, relating to the Lingka Dreaming track across the desert. Also known as the King Brown Snake dreaming, many of the carvings are of snakes, but also include emu and kangaroo tracks; geometric markings; and, further west, crocodiles, turtles and Wanjina figures. The researchers also found stone artefacts and broken grinding stones, used for grinding seeds, as camps were often made underneath the large shady trees. [26]

In film

A boab tree is featured in the 1992 animated film FernGully: The Last Rainforest to imprison the film's antagonist, Hexxus. [28] [29]

The boab tree is celebrated in the end credits of the 2008 film Australia with the song "By the Boab Tree", a song nominated for a 2008 Satellite Award, with lyrics by Baz Luhrmann and performed by Sydney singer Angela Little. [30]

Related Research Articles

The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, and on the east by the Northern Territory.

<i>Adansonia</i> Genus of plants known as baobab

Adansonia is a genus made up of eight species of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs. They are placed in the Malvaceae family, subfamily Bombacoideae. They are native to Madagascar, mainland Africa, and Australia. The trees have also been introduced to other regions such as Asia. The generic name honours Michel Adanson, the French naturalist and explorer who described Adansonia digitata. The baobab is also known as the "upside down tree", a name that originates from several myths. They are among the most long-lived of vascular plants and have large flowers that are reproductive for a maximum of 15 hours. The flowers open around dusk, opening so quickly that movement can be detected by the naked eye, and are faded by the next morning. The fruits are large, oval to round and berry-like and hold kidney-shaped seeds in a dry, pulpy matrix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustus Charles Gregory</span> Australian politician

Sir Augustus Charles Gregory was an English-born Australian explorer and surveyor. Between 1846 and 1858 he undertook four major expeditions. He was the first Surveyor-General of Queensland. He was appointed a lifetime Member of the Queensland Legislative Council.

Bottle tree or bottle-tree may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wyndham, Western Australia</span> Town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia

Wyndham is the northernmost town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, 3,315 kilometres (2,060 mi) northeast of Perth via the Great Northern Highway. It was established in 1886 to service a new goldfield at Halls Creek, and it is now a port and service centre for the east Kimberley with a population of 941 as of the 2021 census. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up 54% of the population. Wyndham comprises two areas - the original town site at Wyndham Port situated on Cambridge Gulf, and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) by road to the south, the Three Mile area with the residential and shopping area for the port, also founded in 1886. Wyndham is part of the Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley.

<i>Adansonia digitata</i> Species of plant

Adansonia digitata, the African baobab, is the most widespread tree species of the genus Adansonia, the baobabs, and is native to the African continent and the southern Arabian Peninsula. These are long-lived pachycauls; radiocarbon dating has shown some individuals to be over 2,000 years old. They are typically found in dry, hot savannas of sub-Saharan Africa, where they dominate the landscape and reveal the presence of a watercourse from afar. They have traditionally been valued as sources of food, water, health remedies or places of shelter and are a key food source for many animals. They are steeped in legend and superstition. In recent years, many of the largest, oldest trees have died, for unknown reasons. Common names for the baobab include monkey-bread tree, upside-down tree, and cream of tartar tree.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arborglyph</span> Carvings on living trees

Arborglyphs, dendroglyphs, silvaglyphs, or modified cultural trees are carvings of shapes and symbols into the bark of living trees. Although most often referring to ancient cultural practices, the term also refers to modern tree-carving.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimberley tropical savanna</span> Terrestrial ecoregion in Western Australia

The Kimberley tropical savanna is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in northwestern Australia, covering portions of Western Australia and the Northern Territory south of the Timor Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boab Prison Tree, Derby</span> Heritage listed tree in Western Australia

The Baobab Prison Tree, Derby is a 1,500-year-old, large hollow Adansonia gregorii (Baobab) tree 6 kilometres south of Derby, Western Australia with a girth of 14.7 metres. It had been reputed to have been used in the 1890s as a lockup for indigenous Australian prisoners on their way to Derby for sentencing, but there is no evidence that it was ever used to house prisoners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boab Prison Tree, Wyndham</span> Historic boab tree near Wyndham, Western Australia

The Boab Prison Tree is a large hollow Adansonia gregorii (boab) tree just south of Wyndham, Western Australia, near The Diggers Rest and the Moochalabra Dam, on the King River road. The tree was once known as the Hillgrove Lockup.

Timber Creek, traditionally known as Makalamayi, is an isolated small town on the banks of the Victoria River in the Northern Territory of Australia. The Victoria Highway passes through the town, which is the only significant settlement between the Western Australia border and the town of Katherine to the east. Timber Creek is approximately 600 kilometres (370 mi) south of Darwin, in an area known for its scenic escarpments and boab trees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gija Jumulu</span> Boab tree moved 3200 km to Perth, Western Australia

Gija Jumulu is a boab tree which was transported 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi) from Telegraph Creek, near Warmun in the Kimberley region of Western Australia to Kings Park in Perth. This was the longest land journey of a similar sized tree in history.

Pseudofusicoccum adansoniae is an endophytic fungus that might be a canker pathogen, specifically for Adansonia gibbosa (baobab). It was isolated from said trees, as well as surrounding ones, in the Kimberley.

Pseudofusicoccum ardesiacum is an endophytic fungus that might be a canker pathogen, specifically for Adansonia gibbosa (baobab). It was isolated from said trees, as well as surrounding ones, in the Kimberley.

Pseudofusicoccum kimberleyense is an endophytic fungus that might be a canker pathogen, specifically for Adansonia gibbosa (baobab). It was isolated from said trees, as well as surrounding ones, in the Kimberley.

Neoscytalidium novaehollandiae is an endophytic fungus that might be a canker pathogen, specifically for Adansonia gibbosa (baobab). It was isolated from said trees, as well as surrounding ones, in the Kimberley.

Fusicoccum ramosum is an endophytic fungus that might be a canker pathogen, specifically for Adansonia gibbosa (baobab). It was isolated from said trees, as well as surrounding ones, in the Kimberley.

Dothiorella longicollis is an endophytic fungus that might be a canker pathogen, specifically for Adansonia gibbosa (baobab). It was isolated from said trees, as well as surrounding ones, in the Kimberley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jail tree</span> Tree used to incarcerate prisoners

A jail tree is any tree used to incarcerate a person, usually by chaining the prisoner up to the tree. Jail trees were used on the American frontier in the Territory of Arizona, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; jail trees were also used in Australia. A few jail trees survive to this day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Balme</span> Professor of archaeology

Jane Balme is a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Western Australia. She is an expert on early Indigenous groups and Australian archaeology.

References

  1. ↑ Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).; IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group. (2019). "Adansonia gregorii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2019: e.T146626600A146626602. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T146626600A146626602.en . Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  2. ↑ (26 May 2018) GBIF Occurrence Download Adansonia gregorii F.Muell.
  3. 1 2 "Gregory's Tree". Monument Australia. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  4. 1 2 "Gregory's Tree, Timber Creek". Visit the Northern Territory, Australia. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Adansonia gregorii – Australian Baobab or Bottle Tree seed x5". Ole Lantana’s Seed Store. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  6. 1 2 "Trove Newspaper results for "boabab"". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  7. ↑ "A "BOOB" IN A BAOB TREE". The Sydney Morning Herald . National Library of Australia. 31 August 1940. p. 9. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  8. ↑ "SOUVENIRS". The West Australian . Perth: National Library of Australia. 1 September 1928. p. 8. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  9. 1 2 3 "Gadawon". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Moore, Gregory (4 August 2022). "Built like buildings, boab trees are life-savers with a chequered past". The Conversation . Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Adansonia gregorii". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants. CSIRO . Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  12. 1 2 "Tracing history via the Kimberley's "upside down" trees". WA Parks Foundation. 27 January 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  13. 1 2 Mabey, Richard (2015). The cabaret of plants : botany and the imagination. London. pp. 69–71. ISBN   978-1-86197-662-8. OCLC   927291647.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. ↑ Hunt, Melanie (2 May 2019). "'Trees of life': Tracing the journey of baobab trees from Australia to Dubai". The National. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  15. 1 2 "Adansonia gregorii". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  16. ↑ Baum, D.A., 1995, A Systematic Revision of Adansonia (Bombacaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden , 1995, Vol. 82, No. 3 (1995), pp. 440-471
  17. ↑ Vickers, Claudia; Jack Pettigrew. "Origins of the Australian Boab (Adansonia gregorii)". The University of Queensland. Archived from the original on 3 July 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
  18. 1 2 "Could a WA tree help in treating iron deficiency?". ABC News. 7 February 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  19. ↑ J. H. Maiden (1889). The useful native plants of Australia : Including Tasmania. Turner and Henderson, Sydney.
  20. ↑ Boab Prison Tree Archived 1 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine , About-Australia.com. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  21. ↑ "SOUVENIRS". The West Australian . Perth: National Library of Australia. 1 September 1928. p. 8. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  22. ↑ "Giant Bottle Trees". The Queenslander . National Library of Australia. 26 February 1931. p. 54. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  23. ↑ "THE BAOBAB". The Queenslander . National Library of Australia. 26 February 1931. p. 29. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  24. ↑ "IN THE FAR NORTH-WEST". The West Australian . Perth: National Library of Australia. 17 December 1932. p. 5. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  25. ↑ "Biggest Boab in Captivity, Wyndham WA_0449". Flickr. 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  26. 1 2 3 Salleh, Anna (11 October 2022). "Race against time to preserve Lingka Dreaming carvings on boab trees in Tanami Desert". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  27. ↑ O'Connor, Sue; Balme, Jane; et al. (11 October 2022). "Art in the bark: Indigenous carved boab trees (Adansonia gregorii) in north-west Australia". Antiquity. Antiquity Publications. 96 (390): 1574–1591. doi: 10.15184/aqy.2022.129 . ISSN   0003-598X.
  28. ↑ Astell, Paul (7 April 2019). "Film Review: FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)". Feeling Animated. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  29. ↑ "Movie Review Friday: FernGully: The Last Rainforest". The Green Life. 2 April 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  30. ↑ Adams, Ryan (30 November 2008). "Satellite Award Nominees". Awardsdaily. Retrieved 12 October 2022.

Works cited

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