Adansonia kilima, is the name given in 2012 to certain upland populations of Adansonia trees of southern and eastern Africa that are now considered to be synonymous with Adansonia digitata
Description
The Montane African Baobab,
Adansonia kilima, was described in 2012,
but is no longer considered a valid species.
[Cron, Glynis & Karimi, Nisa & Glennon, Kelsey & Udeh, Chukwudi & Witkowski, E & Venter, Sarah & Assogbadio, A & Baum, David. (2016). "One African baobab species or two? A re-evaluation of Adansonia kilima." South African Journal of Botany. 103. 312. 10.1016/j.sajb.2016.02.036.] Trees of this new species were distinguished from the African Baobab (
Adansonia digitata) by having smaller flowers (about half the size of
A. digitata flowers) which it presented in larger numbers each night, and with the pollen grains more spiny and about two-third the diameter of the pollen of
A. digitata.
However, Cron et al. (2016) showed that none of these differences were consistent, and that there was no genetic difference between the forms, which should therefore all be considered
A. digitata.
Taxonomy
The scientific name
Adansonia refers to the French explorer and botanist,
Michel Adanson (1727–1806), who wrote the first botanical description for the
type species, the African baobab,
Adansonia digitata.
[Baum, D.A., 1995, A Systematic Revision of Adansonia (Bombacaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 1995, Vol. 82, No. 3 (1995), pp. 440-471]
All species of
Adansonia except
A. digitata are
diploid;
A. digitata is
tetraploid.
Different populations of the African baobab show some differences and it has been suggested that the taxon contains more than one species. Although there are some high-elevation trees in Tanzania that show different genetics and morphology,
is no longer recognized as a distinct species but considered a synonym of
A. digitata.
Cron, Glynis & Karimi, Nisa & Glennon, Kelsey & Udeh, Chukwudi & Witkowski, E & Venter, Sarah & Assogbadio, A & Baum, David. (2016). "One African baobab species or two? A re-evaluation of Adansonia kilima." South African Journal of Botany. 103. 312. 10.1016/j.sajb.2016.02.036.
