Research progress on Adansonia

Adansonia are tall deciduous trees of the subfamily Bombacoideae (Malvaceae) native to Africa and Australia. They have attracted much attention worldwide due to their swollen trunks, excellent drought tolerance, and longevity. Adansonia are of great significance in paleoclimatic reconstruction, biological origin and evolution, and biodiversity conservation. In this paper, advances in research on Adansonia are summarized from the perspective of geographical distribution, morphological structure, functional utilization, and origin and evolution. Future research prospects are also discussed in regard to drought resistance mechanisms, exploitation and utilization, origin and evolution, and biodiversity conservation.