What is the african upsidedown tree?
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The Baobab tree, which is among the largest and longest living trees on earth, is also one of its most unusual and remarkable trees. A native of Africa, it has flourished for thousands of years in the arid savannah close to the equator. The tree, which can grow up to 30 metres in height, has a very strange appearance. It has an enormous, thick bulbous trunk and stunted branches that look like gnarled roots spreading wide. The branches are bare for nine months of the year, since the tree puts out leaves only twice a year, for a few weeks at a time when the rains come to the plains. Thus, the Baobab tree, for most of the time, looks as if it has been pulled out of the ground and stuffed back in upside down! \n\nThe tree's unusual appearance has given rise to many interesting folktales about its origins. African Bushmen have a legend that tells of the God Thora who took a dislike to the Baobab growing in his garden. He tossed it over the wall of paradise to Earth below, and although it landed upside down, it continued to grow! Another folk tale says that the Baobab was amongst the first trees to appear on Earth. When the palm tree, the flame tree and the fig tree appeared, the Baobab began to grumble that it wanted to be taller, to have brilliant flame coloured flowers, and bear tasty fruit too. The Gods grew angry at this incessant wailing and pulled up the tree by its roots, and replanted in upside down to keep it quiet! \n\nThere are only three months of rain in a year. So the Baobab spreads its roots wide and collects as much rainwater as it can. Then it stores the water in its bark and lower trunk for use during the dry months. Bushmen, and even elephants wandering through the desert extract water from pulpy fibre when there is drought. \n\nThe leaves of this tree resemble an outstretched hand with open fingers. Its large flowers are white and bell-shaped, and open only at night. The tree produces an edible, gourd like fruit called "monkey bread", which is a favourite with baboons. This fruit has the highest concentration of vitamin C of any plant. \n\nThe Baobab is a friendly, nurturing tree and creates it own eco-system as its supports the life of countless creatures from the largest of mammals to the thousands of tiny creatures scurrying in and out of its numerous crevices. Baobabs may live up to 3000 years! There are trees alive today that were growing when the Roman Empire ruled Europe! Baobabs are very difficult to kill. Even when burnt, they will form new bark, and keep on growing. When they do die, they simply rot from the inside, and suddenly collapse, leaving only a heap of fibres. These majestic trees are revered by the people who live with them. In Africa, old Baobabs are given names, and each name begins with the word "mother", for in the tough savannah grasslands, the great Baobab is a mother of life, symbolising endurance, conservation, creativity and ingenuity.
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Close. Osage Orange, scientific name is Maclura pomifera. Other vernacular names are Hedge Apple, Bodark. Bodark is from the French Bois d'arc because the wood of this tree is good for making archery bows.
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half african, half combodian.\nafrican-cambodian-american?
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a & b Canadian c S.African
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Well, djddan, don't know where you got your information ...\nGinkgo trees were first "discovered" by a westerner (a dutchman, in fact) growing in temples at Nagasaki, Japan, in around 1690. They are asian plants, and any of them growing anywhere in the US must be cultivated and cannot possibly date to before the Pilgrims arrived.\nThey might potentially live a long time but I don't think you can count non-native trees.
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The "walking tree".\n\nThis tree has no central root as such and it stands on a large number of roots that grow close to or above the ground.\n\nThese roots tend to grow more on the side where there is light, and so if, for example, there seems to be more light to the west, more roots will grow on the west side and gradually the plant will move in that direction.\n\nThe trees can move up to 15 centimeters a year. This is an example of positive phototropism, that is, the tendency of plants to grow or turn toward light.\n\nBananas probably do something similar and I presume the direction is usually towards the equator.
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plants\n\nhttp://www.tropicalisland.de/bali_mount_batur/images/DPS%20Bali%20pineapple%20plant%20with%20fruit%203008x2000.jpg
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Africa is the 'dark continent'.
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an African wilderness area
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upside down by jack johnson :)
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I think this is what you're after.\n\nIt is an accident of astronomy that our earth has a tilt of 21.3 degrees.  (That's the current tilt ... it ranges between 21 and 25 degrees every 41,000 years.)  \n\nAs a result, trees far away from the equator see a variable amount of sunlight over the course of one journey around the sun (one year).  Trees (such as palm trees) near the equator (specifically between the tropics) do not see much variability in the sunlight, so the following does apply to them.  \n\nWhen tilted towards the sun, the days are longer, and the sun higher in the sky, and the tree wants as much area dedicated to photosynthesis as possible.  So leaves are good.  \n\nBut when tilted away from the sun, the days are shorter, the sun not as high up, and photosynthesis is more difficult.  The leaves are a premium ... they're consuming more food than they are producing with photosynthesis.  Plus, with temperatures dropping, water in the leaves is in danger of freezing, which burdens the branches with so much extra weight that they can break.  So it is better to shed those leaves for that part of the journey around the sun.  (This is less of a problem with trees, like pine trees, that have needles instead of leaves.)\n\nIs that what your after?  (Great question!)
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An upside down centipede
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The Wollemi Pine:\n\nA very rare discovery ‘Dinosaur tree’ or ‘living fossil’, the Wollemi Pine is certainly one of the greatest botanical discoveries of our time.\n\nIn September 1994 David Noble, an officer with the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service, discovered some trees he didn’t quite recognise. In a deep, narrow canyon of the rugged Wollemi National Park, he discovered what we now call Wollemia nobilis or the Wollemi Pine.\n\nThe dramatic discovery of an evolutionary line thought to be long extinct is even more remarkable with these tall and striking trees growing only 150 km from Sydney, the largest city in Australia. They were found in the extremely rugged Wollemi National Park, a largely undisturbed wilderness area.\n\nIt’s rare, it’s endangered, it’s strange looking, and at first we didn’t know all that much about it. Now we know a lot more — click on a topic of interest at the left to find out more. \n\nThe worldwide demand for this plant has been enormous. Research into the horticultural development of the Wollemi Pine is being conducted at Mount Annan Botanic Garden.\n\nJust how old is a Wollemi Pine?\n\nTo determine the age of the Wollemi Pine trees, a scientific team cut cross-sections from one of the fallen trunks (a large mature, 35–40 metre trunk) at the original site in Wollemi National Park, and sent them to the Australian National University Forestry Department for analysis.\n\nOne of the most intriguing things that can’t be determined, due to coppicing (the unusual branching habit which leads to old Wollemi Pines having many separate trunks — see appearance) is how old the original tree was before this particular trunk was produced. It may have been hundreds, or perhaps thousands of years since it was a seedling.\n\nBy counting the growth rings from cross-sections of the trunk and combining this with carbon dating, the best estimate for this sample trunk is about 350 years old — research is being conducted on determining its age. This means that this trunk started growing around 1650!
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http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/plants/plant/\n\nhttp://waynesword.palomar.edu/trjune99.htm\n\nhttp://www.botany.uwc.ac.za/Sci_ed/pupil/Angiosperms/\n\nhttp://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/plants/\n\nThose will help...
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Hehe Masterkush :-P\nIf it's a picture, try Google Images. The scientific name is Loxodonta africana.\nIf it's an actual ear... I guess that's illegal. Or isn't it?\nGood luck!
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Err you want proof?\nThe Continent of Africa is turning slowly but surely into a vast uninhabitable desert.\nNot fun for the animals let alone the people!\n\nSomething to think about next time you use your energy wasting tumble-driers!  That's why there's Wind & Sun, not because hanging your washing out MAKES YOU POOR!\nOnly an American could come up with a Crook o S**T like that!
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Is it an African or a European swallow?