Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

Baobab fruit is edible to humans and other creatures. The elaborate, night-blooming flowers attract bats for pollination. Weaver birds create basketlike nests that hang from their tallest branches, safely out of reach of browsing animals. Bark can be peeled (without killing the tree) and woven into rope, baskets, cloth or hats. Baobab have also been cultivated (but are not native) in South Asia, the Americas and China.īirds, reptiles, and small mammals such as monkeys nest in the baobab's branches. In Madagascar, the species Adonsonia grandidieri grows in groves with a distinctively tall, sculptured trunk and is a much-photographed tourist attraction. They're especially visible because of their unusual, bulbous trunks and are native to Sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar and Australia. Trees may live more than 2,000 years and can grow both taller and wider than 100 feet. In some regions, couples like to marry beneath the baobab, believing it bestows fertility.īaobabs are deciduous, and function as prominent players in the ecosystem. Others say that if you pick a baobab flower, you will be eaten by a lion conversely, if you drink water infused with the seeds, you'll be protected from crocodile attacks.

Some say that baby boys who bathe in water infused with baobab bark will grow up strong. Traditional medicinal lore ascribes powerful properties to the sacred baobab. Traditional Shona myth explains that the tree showed too much pride and was always whining and calling other creatures bad names, so the creator turned it upside-down as punishment, hence it stands today with many root-like branches reaching to the sky. This article relates to Buried Beneath the Baobab TreeĪ prominent symbol in Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree, the mighty baobab tree sparks the imagination because of its unusual shape and longevity.

Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani