Adansonia digitata L.

A. bahobab L.; A. baobab Gaertn.

Bombacaceae (also sometimes included in Malvaceae)

Cream-of-tartar tree; monkey-bread tree; upside-down tree

Fruit pulp (in Africa all plant parts are used in traditional medicine, including bark, roots, leaves, flowers and seeds, but these are not generally available in the European Union).

A number of aromatic compounds have been isolated from the fruit pulp of baobab, including isopropyl myristate and nonanal. The pulp also contains organic acids including citric, tartaric, malic, succinic and ascorbic acid (vitamin C), which is found at levels seven to ten times higher than in orange. It has high amounts of carbohydrates (ca 70%), crude fibre (ca 11%), a low amount of ash (ca 6%), protein (ca 2%) and traces of fat. Amino acids isolated from the pulp include alanine, arginine, glycine, lysine, methionine, proline, serine and valine. The fruit pulp and/or leaves have been shown to contain vitamins B1, B2, B3 and A. The minerals copper, iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese, sodium, phosphorus and zinc have also been isolated from the fruit pulp (Kamatou et al. 2011).