Trees & Shrubs ‹‹ Go Back

This is not an indigenous species to the country. It is native to the African continent and the Southern Arabian Peninsula. It is believed that the origins of these prehistoric trees are more than 200 million years and had been introduced to the country by the early Arab traders.

This is an icon of the African continent, with its bark, flowers and fruits providing hundreds of uses to both humans and animals alike and referred to by many indigenous people at the tree of life. and The Adansonia genus comprises of 8 species commonly referred to as Baobabs. They are found in Madagascar, where it is named as the national tree, Africa and Australia. Radiocarbon dating has revealed that some of the oldest trees in existence today in Africa and Arabian Peninsula are more than 2000 years old.

These trees are known to absorb and retain large volumes of water during the rainy season and produce a nutrient dense fruit during the dry season. The tree produc4es large whitish flowers at night during the flowering season which contain a substantial amount of nectar. Bats which visit the flowers for the nectar are known to be the pollinators of this species.

The oldest and the largest Baobab tree is situated at Pallimunei in the island of Mannar. This tree has a height of 7.5 meters and a circumference of 19.5 meters. It is believed that this was planted by the Arabian Traders 740 years ago. These trees are commonly referred to as Elephant Trees (Ali Gaha) in Sinhala due to tits bark being similar in colour and texture to that of an Elephant. It is also said that the trunk of this tree can hold about 12,000 liters of water from resulting in the tree being referred to as the bottle tree in Africa. It is estimated that there are around 40 trees belonging to the Genus Adansonia in the country and 34 of these are found in Mannar.

In Wilpattu there are two magnificent Baobab trees. One on the road to Pukkulama and a much larger larger tree on the banks of Pomparippu Aru which is a tributary of Kala oya. In January 2014 when I visited the smaller tree on the Pukkulama road it was full of leaves but when I visited the same tree in June 2017 it was devoid of any leaves. These tree sheds the leaves to prevent evaporation and conserve water during the dry season. In Wipattu the dry season is from May until end September. When I visited the largest Baobab in the park in October 2015 via Kala Oya it was covered in lush leaves.