adansonia

ADANSO'NIA, n. Ethiopian sour gourd, monkey's bread, of African calabash-tree. It is a tree of one species, called baobab, a native of Africa, and the largest of the vegetable kingdom. The stem rises not above twelve or fifteen feet, but is from sixty-five to seventy-eight feet in circumference. The branches shoot horizontally to the length of sixty feet, the ends bending to the ground. The fruit is oblong, pointed at both ends, ten inches in length, and covered with a greenish down, under which is a hard ligneous rind. It hangs to the tree by a pedicle two feet long, and contains a white spungy substance. The leaves and bark, dried and powdered, are used by the negroes, as pepper, on their food, to promote perspiration. The tree is named from M. Adanson, who has given a description of it.