133 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 A. A. Mariod (ed.), Wild Fruits: Composition, Nutritional Value and Products, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31885-7_11 Chapter 11 Adansonia digitata: Phytochemical Constituents, Bioactive Compounds, Traditional and Medicinal Uses Muneer E. S. Eltahir and Mohamed E. O. Elsayed 11.1 The Plant Distribution and Botanical Description Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) distributes in sub-Saharan Africa (Wickens and Lowe 2008), and specifically is found in west, east and southern Africa in the drier plant communities of the Sudano-Zambesian lowlands where annual rainfall is 200–800 mm annually (Venter 2012). It is one of eight species of baobabs in the genus Adansonia (Malvaceae subfamily Bombacoideae). Six species occur in Madagascar, one in Australia and one in mainland Africa (Baum 1995). In natural landscapes, baobab densities and not size-class distributions differed significantly between vegetation types and soil types (Venter and Witkowski 2011). Baobabs in Sudan are most frequently found in the southern part of the country (Gebauer et al. 2016), and in the western part as well (Eltahir 2017). They thrive on sandy and rocky soils, from the short-grass savannah (El Amin 1990) to the deciduous savan- nah woodlands (Wickens and Lowe 2008). They often occur as widely spaced indi- viduals or small groups of individuals scattered over large areas. Baobabs are also common on mountain slopes such as the Jebel edDair in central Sudan and also in the Nuba Mountains (Wiehle et al. 2014). They are also reported in the eastern foot- hills of the Jebel Marra massif (Wickens 1982). Along wadis and in depressions, where water is being collected during the rainy season, baobabs are found even in the very dry northern parts of Darfur and Kordofan, on heavy soils such as the flat clay plains around Habila in the Nuba Mountains (Gebauer et al. 2016). According to ElAmin (1990), baobabs form belts in Kordofan, Darfur, Blue Nile in Sudan and Upper Nile and Bahr El Ghazal in South Sudan. M. E. S. Eltahir (*) Department of Gum Arabic Researches, Institute of Gum Arabic Research and Desertification Studies, University of Kordofan, Elobeid, Sudan M. E. O. Elsayed Department of Biochemistry and Food Science, University of Kordofan, Elobeid, Sudan