Baobab tree of Lalbagh, Bengaluru

People are attracted to Lalbagh for different reasons... for fresh air & silence, for a brisk walk or a energizing run, to see greenery & winged creatures, private moment with a special one, to look for rare plants or to simply look at the gigantic forms of trees like silk cotton. Quite often I'd come to Lalbagh just to enjoy the silence and to see the towering silk-cotton trees. One of the silk cottons is not so towering, rather it is spread out like an octopus. Even that is an amazing sight. Of the rare trees, Krishna Ficus is one variety one gets to see here. I discovered the Krishna Ficus of Lalbagh in December 2014 during a meetup with primary school friends. That's the time I wondered if there was a baobab as well. In February 2019, a comment was posted on Gigantic Silk-Cotton Trees of Lalbagh which said "There is a Baobab tree in Lalbagh near the fish tank building." Following this comment, I visited Lalbagh to look for the baobab but I simply couldn't locate it. It was very disappointing and I never made another attempt to look for it and gave up on it.

October 29, 2022. A message posted by a high-school days' friend Anil Prasad in Whatsapp was a pleasant surprise. He had located the baobab of Lalbagh. I'm not sure if it was an accidental discovery or an intentional one, but the elusive tree had been found. Superb news. I had a phone call with Anil while he was still at Lalbagh, asked for more pictures of the tree which were promptly sent to me. So here's the rare tree.. the three stemmed Baobab of Lalbagh.

It looks like three trees but it is actually one. It seems the plant grew branches close to the ground which competed with the stem to the extent they look like triplets now. Going along with my theory, the limb on the right is the stem and the 'stems' emerging up from the main stem are branches. Below is a diagonal view of the tree.

Its a good thing that horticulture department has labelled many trees in Lalbagh and Cubbon Park too. Surely students and people interested in plant life will find the information handy. The bark of this baobab is similar to the baobabs seen at Savanur, Bijapur, Hyderabad and Nalagonda.

Besides the smaller labels, horticulture department has also planted a board stating a few basic facts of baobabs. Below are the transcripts of the board in Kannada and English.

ಆನೆ ಹುಣಸೆ 

ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯ ಹೆಸರು: ಆನೆ ಹುಣಸೆ ಬೇಯೋಬಾಬ್ 

ಸಸ್ಯ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರೀಯ ಹೆಸರು: ಅಡನ್ ಸೋನಿಯಾ ಡಿಜಿಟಾಟ

ಸಸ್ಯ ಸಾಂಕ್ರಿಯ ಕುಟುಂಬ: ಬಾಂಬಕೆಸಿ 

ಮೂಲ: ಆಫ್ರಿಕಾ ದೇಶ 

ಈ ಮರವು ಪ್ರಪಂಚದಲ್ಲೇ ಬಹಳ ಬೃಹದಾಕಾರವಾಗಿ ಬೆಳೆಯುವ ಮರ. ಈ ಮರವು ೨೦೦೦ ವರ್ಷಗಳೂ ಮಿಗಿಲಾಗಿ ಜೀವಿಸುವ ಚೈತನ್ಯವುಳ್ಳ ಮರವಾಗಿರುತ್ತದೆ. ಇದರ ಕಾಂಡವು ಉಬ್ಬು ತಗ್ಗುಗಳಿಂದ ಕೂಡಿದ್ದು. ಬಾಟಲಿನ ಆಕಾರದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಕಾಂಡವು ಬಹಳ ದಪ್ಪವಾಗಿದ್ದು ತುದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮೊನಚಾಗಿ ನಂತರ ಕವಲೊಡೆದು ದಪ್ಪ ಕೊಂಬೆಗಳಾಗಿ ಬೆಳೆಯುತ್ತದೆ. ಇದರ ತವರೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಹಳೆಯ ಮರಗಳ ಕಾಂಡಗಳು ಟೊಳ್ಳಾಗಿ ಸುಮಾರು ೧೨೫೦ ಲೀಟರ್ ನಷ್ಟು ಮಳೆಯ ನೀರನ್ನು ಸಂಗ್ರಹಿಸುವ ಸಾಮರ್ಥ್ಯವಿರುತ್ತದೆ. ಭೀಕರ ಬರಗಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ನೀರನ್ನು ಜನರು ಕುಡಿಯಲು ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು ಎಂದು ಉಲ್ಲೇಖಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಇದು ಒಂದು ಅಲಂಕಾರಿಕ ಮರವಾಗಿದ್ದು ಇದನ್ನು ದೊಡ್ಡ ಉದ್ಯಾನವನಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಬೆಳೆಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಇದರ ಕಾಯಿಗಳು ಹಗುರವಾಗಿದ್ದು ಮೀನು ಹಿಡಿಯುವ ಬಳೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ.

Baobab tree

Common name: Baobab Tree, Monkey Bread Tree

Botanical Name: Adansonia digitata

Family: Bombaceceae

Origin: Tropical Africa

It is a curious looking giant tree, thought to live more than 2000 years with a swollen bottle shaped trunk suddenly tapering upwards and dividing into a number of large branches. In its native country, the trunk of older trees get hollowed to such an extent to hold rain water as much as 1250 liters, by tapping which people survive over long drought periods. Leaves deciduous, flowers white and scented with purplish stamens. An ornamental tree planted in parks. Dry fruits are used as floats for fishing nets.

The Baobab inside Golconda fort is locally called as Hathiyan, meaning elephant tree. The texture of the bark does resemble elephant skin. The color and folds of elephant hide can be seen on Baobabs.

Lets take a look at the leaves. For a huge tree, the leaves are small. The leaves of this baobab definitely resembles the leaves of other baobabs.... color, shape, size, etc.

Coming to the base of the trunk, a warty texture is a feature in most baobabs.

With this picture one should be able to locate the tree at site. This is near the aquarium buildings, situated between the clock and band stand. This spot is equidistant from West gate and Main gate.

For the reader's benefit, I'm posting a list of known Baobab trees of India-

1. Hilltop Nightclub, Vagator, Goa
2. Cabo Raj Bhavan, Dona Paula, Goa
3. Quepem, Goa
4. Bamboo Motels, Goa
5. Mahalakshmi Gudi premises, Martur
6. near Ibrahim Roza, Bijapur, Karnataka (this tree died a few years ago)
7. near the tombs of Yogapur, Vijayapura
8. Dodda Hunashe Matha, Savanur, Karnataka
9. Attapur, Hyderabad
10. Purana Qilla, Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, Telangana
11. Vansthalipuram, Hyderabad, Telangana
12. near Chappel Road, Hyderabad, Telangana
13. Ranganath temple at Nanakramguda Hyderabad, Telangana
14. Uppal in Chengicherla Reserve Forests, Hyderabad, Telangana
15. Shivalaya on Balachandruni Guttalu, Nalagonda, Telangana
16. Nellore, Andhrapradesh
17. Theosophist Society Gardens, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
18. The American College campus, Madurai, Tamil Nadu
19. Chinmaya Vidyalaya's campus, Ilanthope, Rajapalayam, Tamil Nadu
20. Mangaliawas near Ajmer, Rajasthan
21. Vadodara, Gujarat
22. Dayapur, Gujarat
23. Kutch, Gujarat
24. Bhanagar, Gujarat
25. Baroda, Gujarat
26. Victoria Garden, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
27. Mulund, Mumbai, Maharashtra
28. Byculla zoo, Mumbai, Maharashtra
29. Outside the Vasai fort, Maharashtra
30. Tilak road and Ghole road, Pune, Maharastra
31. near Aurangabad, Maharashtra
32. Mandavgad or Mandu, Madhya Pradesh
33. near Sangam, left bank of the Ganga, Prayag, Uttar Pradesh 
34. Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park, Bihar

.........