Journal
A new baobab species: Adansonia bozy
Scientists have recognized a ninth baobab species, Adansonia bozy, split from A. za. What the study found, and why it might explain two mysteries in my own seed collection.
Attention fellow baobab nerds: there is a new baobab species. In August 2026, researchers from UW–Madison, the Missouri Botanical Garden and Iowa State University published a genetic study of Madagascar's baobabs that recognizes Adansonia bozy as its own species.
Read the article on Phys.org →
Until now there were eight recognized baobab species: one in mainland Africa, one in Australia and six in Madagascar. A. bozy makes nine.
The gist
- A. bozy had been grouped with Adansonia za. The two look alike, but the DNA shows the northern populations are more closely related to other northern Madagascar baobabs than to A. za.
- The name A. bozy was described long ago and later folded into A. za. This study brings it back.
- The team sequenced hundreds of genes from each tree. Leaves alone often can't tell look-alike baobabs apart, and the flowers only open after dark, high in the canopy, for about a month a year, so genetics settled what field identification couldn't.
- The researchers consider A. bozy endangered. A named species can get the conservation attention and funding that a population hidden inside another species can't. A. za is now a smaller species than once thought, so its status may be reviewed too.
- They think A. rubrostipa (fony) may also need to be split, and that more undiscovered species may be out there in remote parts of Madagascar.
The paper: Karimi et al. (2026), "Phylogenomic analysis of Madagascar's baobabs reveals admixed populations and supports resurrection of a previously described species," Taxon. doi.org/10.1002/tax.70176
A mystery in my own seed collection
I have a batch of seeds I have never been able to place between A. madagascariensis and A. za. The collector told me they are madagascariensis, but they don't look like madagascariensis. They don't look exactly like fony either. They grow like the northern species.
Since A. bozy is a northern baobab that was hiding inside A. za, it's possible that's what I have. I don't know for sure. Time will tell.
The island baobab
The first baobab seeds I ever bought came from a grower in the Virgin Islands. I was able to germinate some of them, but they were very different from everything I've grown since: small, black, hard seeds that were difficult to germinate, and seedlings that grow unlike any of my other species. I was under the impression they were A. digitata.
Their mother tree grows in the Virgin Islands. Baobabs aren't native to the Caribbean, and considering how long it takes for a baobab to start consistently producing fruit and seeds, I would be curious to find out one day how old that tree is, where its origins may have stemmed from, and if it is in fact a new species. In the meantime, I'm just happy to be growing them.
In my early days on Etsy, a lovely person who works in plant genetics reached out to me. She has since run the full genetic sequence of this baobab, which I call the island baobab. I haven't heard the results yet, and I'll share them here when I do.
It's pretty cool that we get to live through the time when baobabs are finally getting the attention they deserve, and the science to back it up.