The baobab is a plant of monstrous size,
the most colossal and the most ancient
vegetable monument on earth, has round,
woolly leaves, which consist of from three
to seven leaflets radiating from a common
center, and giving them somewhat the ap
pearance ofa hand, and a magnificent
white flower. It is an enormous tree,
holding among plants the place that the
elephant holds among animals-a hoary
witness of the last changes which the earth
has undergone, and deluges that have
buried beneath their waves the production
of early ages. Several baobabs that have
been measured were found to be near
seventy-seven feet in circumference.
From its branches hang, at times, colossal
nets, three feet in length, and resembling
large oval baskets open at the bottom, and
looking from the distance like so many
s"ptoial d lmAen mes, with their
arms extended, to embrace the trunk of
one of these great trees, which, in the
countries through which the Senegal
flows, are venerated as sacred monuments.
Enormous branches are given off from the
pround and spread out horizontally, iv
ing the tree a diameter of over 100 feet.
"Each of these branches," says Mr. Dan
ton, "would be a monster tree elsewhere,
and taken together, they seem to make up
a forest rather than a tree."
It is only at the age of 800 years that the
baobabs attain their full size, and then
cease to grow.
The fruit of this tree is oblong; the
color of the shell passes in ripening from
green to yellow and brown. The Fruit is
called "monkey bread." It contains a
spongy substance, paler than chocolate,
and filled with abundant juice.
