Tis Flowering Season!

Tis the season to be flowering and what jolly big flowers they are too!  The flowers are the size of a saucer, measuring up to 15cm across.  They have delicate white waxy petals which pull up like a lady's skirt when curtseying for the queen!  They open as the sun sets and within 20 minutes are fully dilated, so you can literally watch them as they open. The blossoms stay alive for just 24 hours so by the time the sun sets the next day the flowers are spent. Baobabs in South Africa flower have their peak flowering season in November and range in number from 10 flowers per tree to up to a thousand flowers per tree at a time!  Dr. Sarah Venter has spent two years studying the flowering baobabs making notes on variation between seasons, trees and landscapes in which the trees occur.  But aren't they just exquisitely beautiful?

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budding baobabs

budding baobabs

Spring has arrived in the Limpopo with budding baobabs!  The baobab trees which have been bare for most of the year are bursting into bud and leaf.  The round buds which look like fruit are actually flower buds.  They will still grow to three times that size over the next month before they are ready […]

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More wisdom of the Baobab tree

More wisdom of the Baobab tree

In Africa the Baobab tree comes close to being regarded as sacred – or as the shelter under which the elders talk and consult until they reach consensus. Here is a picture of a traditional meeting place beneath a Baobab tree close to a Venda Village. It is almost as if the tree bears witness […]

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Baobab Flower research in Ghana

Baobab Flower research in Ghana

In August last year Dr Sarah Venter visited Ghana to see if there are any significant variations between the North-West African baobabs versus our Southern African Baobabs. “The journey took me from Accra, the capital on the Atlantic coast of West Africa about 800km right up to the northern-most part of the country.  Here Baobab […]

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