Plant · P-730

Baobab

Adansonia digitata

Baobab is a slow-growing deciduous tree that can reach 20 m tall with a hugely swollen water-storing trunk and can live for two thousand years. It wants full sun and well-drained soil from sand to clay tolerates long dry seasons and heavy heat but no more than a single light frost a year. Nearly every part is used - the vitamin-rich fruit pulp leaves and seeds are all eaten the bark yields a long cordage fiber and a single large trunk can store well over a thousand gallons of water - though the tree stands leafless for around nine months of the year.