Species
+

Adansonia digitata L.

Affenbrotbaum, Africa's Upside-Down, African baobab, Baobab

Climate known 47 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

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 at least one individual to be 1,275 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. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Adansonia digitata”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Adansonia

Adansonia is a genus of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs or boababs. The eight species of Adansonia are native to Africa, Australia, and Madagascar but have also been introduced to other regions of the world, including Barbados, where several of the baobabs there are suspected to have originated from Africa. Other baobabs have been introduced to Asia. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Adansonia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Malvaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Benin, Burkina, Gambia, The +35
Wild records
1469 in range· 625 open

At a glance

Warmest month
32°C
Nov, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
472mm/yr
11 wet months · peak Jul 60 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–39DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, March to April and July to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.2 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 472 mm a year, wettest July at 60 mm, driest January at 15 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Adansonia bahobab L.; Adansonia baobab Gaertn.; Adansonia baobab L., 1764; Adansonia digitata var. congolensis A.Chev.; Adansonia integrifolia Raf. and 8 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, March to April and July to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.2 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (340 mm of 472 mm) falls in March to April and July to November. The temperature curve is flat, 3.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 472 mm a year, wettest July at 60 mm, driest January at 15 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

472 mm a year at the habitat, 340 mm of it March to April and July to November. Wettest month July at 60 mm, driest January at 15 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 411 mm to 1222 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 39 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 25, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 12.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 12.3 °C, the absolute minimum 9.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 43.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 20.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells 16.7 °C to 23.4 °C), warmest day 32.2 °C in November (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 53 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Jul to 32 °C in Nov; mean night from 20 °C in Jan to 23 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 472 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 976 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 9.4 °C and the 99th-percentile day 43.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°50°43.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)9.4° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 30–39RH 53–61 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 976 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C31 / 28–3432 / 28–3631 / 28–3830 / 27–4029 / 25–3928 / 23–3627 / 23–3228 / 25–3130 / 27–3331 / 28–3632 / 29–3532 / 28–34
Night °C20 / 17–2321 / 18–2422 / 19–2522 / 17–2623 / 14–2622 / 11–2521 / 10–2421 / 12–2421 / 15–2422 / 17–2421 / 19–2420 / 18–24
Rain mm15 / 0–18231 / 0–16958 / 1–14234 / 3–14029 / 3–14632 / 2–17160 / 0–20855 / 0–26557 / 2–21634 / 14–11842 / 0–9525 / 0–161
DLI38 / 35–4239 / 36–4239 / 34–4436 / 31–4633 / 28–4430 / 25–4230 / 25–3832 / 26–3836 / 28–4339 / 31–4539 / 33–4337 / 33–41
RH %55 / 34–6455 / 31–6456 / 32–6455 / 40–6555 / 46–6657 / 49–6758 / 49–6861 / 47–6959 / 44–6855 / 45–6653 / 38–6455 / 35–63

Each figure is the median across the 976 grid cells holding the 1417 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1526:3605 (13.675, 0.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 9.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 12.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 43.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 976 distinct grid cells holding the 1417 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1526:3605 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 13.50_0.000, lapse-corrected -6 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 278 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBenin, Burkina, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Caprivi Strip, Namibia, Northern Provinces, Oman, Yemen· introduced: Comoros, Mozambique Channel Is., Madagascar, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam
Kew's description“tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-22.368, 30.039 · in the densest population, 525 records (36% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1469 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 625 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4729 km away. 70 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 52 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1469 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Adansonia digitataAdansonia digitataAdansonia digitataAdansonia digitataAdansonia digitataAdansonia digitataAdansonia digitataAdansonia digitata

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (4); (c) Louis Imbeau, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Adansonia digitata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

The Effects of Trees on Their Physical, Chemical and Biological Environments in a Semi-Arid Savanna in Kenya
A. Joy Belsky, Ronald Amundson, J. M. Duxbury, Susan J. Riha (1989) · Journal of Applied Ecology
Polyphenol Content and Antioxidant Activity of Fourteen Wild Edible Fruits from Burkina Faso
Aline Lamien‐Meda, Charles Euloge Lamien, Moussa Compaoré, N. Méda (2008) · Molecules
Potent α-amylase inhibitory activity of Indian Ayurvedic medicinal plants
PV Sudha, Smita Zinjarde, Shobha Bhargava, Ameeta Ravi Kumar (2011) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Antibacterial activities of selected edible plants extracts against multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria
Doriane E. Djeussi, Jaurès A. K. Noumedem, Armel Jackson Seukep, Aimé G. Fankam (2013) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
An updated review of Adansonia digitata: A commercially important African tree
Guy Kamatou, Ilze Vermaak, Alvaro Viljoen (2011) · South African Journal of Botany
Nutrient composition and nutritional importance of green leaves and wild food resources in an agricultural district, Koutiala, in Southern Mali
M. Beseth Nordeide, Anne Hatløy, M. Følling, Einar Lied (1996) · International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition
African seed oils of commercial importance — Cosmetic applications
Ilze Vermaak, Guy Kamatou, B. Komane-Mofokeng, Alvaro Viljoen (2011) · South African Journal of Botany
In vitro trypanocidal effect of methanolic extract of some Nigerian savannah plants
Atawodi S.E., T. Bulus, S. Ibrahim, Ameh D.A. (2003) · AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
Adansonia digitata L. (baobab): a review of traditional information and taxonomic description
Jitin Rahul, Manish Kumar Jain, Shishu Pal Singh, Rakesh Kant Kamal (2015) · Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Adansonia 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 97 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.