Latin Name: Adansonia digitata Trade Name: african baobab Priced Each: $5.00 (1-GAL) Estimate Delivery: November 26. 2008 size="1">0102030405060708091011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950

Baobab (Adansonia) is a genus of eight species of trees. Regarded as the largest succulent plant in the World, these trees are well capable of enduring drought conditions and are noted for a remarkable capacity for storing water inside the swollen trunk and roots. Hollowed Baobabs have been used for centuries as prisons, pubs, water tanks, and storage barns.

An easy grower. Keep rather dry in Winter, and if possible protect your tree from frost.

On larger trees, the leaves are hand-sized and divided. Large, pendulous flowers are white and scented. All species of Baobabs occur in seasonally arid areas and are deciduous.

Additional Information:
Remember Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince? On one occasion "trees as big as castles" littered the small asteroid. This event was illustrated in the tv series also. Hmm...BAOBAB! I vividly remember that episode from age four.

The Baobab is the national tree of Madagascar.

Rafiki, in The Lion King, makes his home in a Baobab tree.

Baobab is known as "upside-down tree" (from the Arabic legend which claims that the devil pulled out the tree and planted it upside down).

Baobabs are extensively cultivated as bonsai (most popular being A. digitata).

The name Adansonia was given to this tree to commemorate the French surgeon Michel Adanson (1727-1806).

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Native Habitat: northeastern, central & southern Africa

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USDA Plant Hardiness:
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