Verifying the presence of the newly discovered African baobab, Adansonia kilima, in Zimbabwe through morphological analysis

• A new species of baobab (Adansonia kilima) has been described on mainland Africa where only one species was thought to occur.
• We collected leaf samples from baobab trees around Zimbabwe and analysed them to determine whether both species were present.
• This analysis suggests that A. kilima is present in Zimbabwe.
• The two species were found to occur sympatrically within all areas covered in this study.

Until recently, only one species of baobab was thought to exist on mainland Africa, namely the tetraploid Adansonia digitata. However, a second, diploid species, Adansonia kilima, has recently been described and its presence has been confirmed in Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Namibia and South Africa. In this study, we use morphological analysis to confirm the presence of A. kilima in Zimbabwe. Leaves were collected from four different sites around Zimbabwe and the size and density of the stomata were measured. We found that the trees could be divided into two distinct groups, with the stomatal size and density in each group corresponding with those found previously. This suggests that both species do occur in Zimbabwe and their occurrence is sympatric.