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World Champion Baobab Adansonia digitata Magnoliophyta Division — Magnoliopsida class Malvales order — Malvaceae Family Africa Circumference = ? inches (? feet) Height = ? feet Average Crown Spread = ? feet

The Baobab is found in the the arid savannas of Africa and India, and known as "The Tree of Life" for its vitality and longevity. The distribution of the species throughout the dry parts of Africa is mainly due to humans. This gigantic tree can grow up to 80 feet tall, and up to 40 feet in diameter, with compact, irregular crown, and can live for several thousand years. In spite of the enormous girth of the trees, they are not particularly tall, and thus have a bottlelike appearance. The baobab is leafless for nine months of the year. In the wet months, water is stored in its thick, corky, fire-resistant trunk for the nine dry months ahead.

The baobab looks like it has been picked out of the ground and stuffed back in upside-down. The trunk would be the tap-root, and the branches the finer capillary roots. An Arabian legend says that "the devil plucked up the baobab, thrust its branches into the earth and left its roots in the air." Another legend describes what happens if you are never satified with what you already have:

"The baobab was among the first trees to appear on the land. Next came the slender, graceful palm tree. When the baobab saw the palm tree, it cried out that it wanted to be taller. Then the beautiful flame tree appeared with its red flower and the baobab was envious for flower blossoms. When the baobab saw the magnificent fig tree, it prayed for fruit as well. The gods became angry with the tree, and pulled it up by its roots, then replanted it upside down to keep it quiet."

Adansonia digitata has a character unique in the genus: pendulous flowers. Bark grey, smooth, some times irregurlarly tuberculate, and the wood is fibrous and soft, stocking water for the long drying periods. Flowers are white. Fruits are variable, globose to ovoid.

The baobab's bark, leaves, fruit, and trunk are all used. The bark of the baobab is used for cloth and rope, the leaves for condiments and medicines, while the gourd-like fruit, called "monkey bread", is eaten. The leaves are also common as a leaf vegetable throughout the area of mainland African distribution, including Malawi, Zimbabwe, and the Sahel. They are eaten both fresh and in the form of a dry powder. In Nigeria, the leaves are locally known as kuka, and are used to make kuka soup. The dry pulp of the fruit, after separation from the seeds and fibers, is eaten directly or mixed into porridge or milk. The seeds are most used as a thickener for soups, but may also be fermented into a seasoning, roasted for direct consumption, or pounded to extract vegetable oil. The tree also provides a source of fiber, dye, and fuel. Sometimes people live inside of the huge trunks, and bush-babies live in the crown. Easy to grow, baobabs are suitable as bonsai or indoor plants, as well as outdoor plants in tropical or subtropical countries.

The name Adansonia honours Michel Adanson, the French naturalist and explorer who discovered A. digitata. In Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's story The Little Prince, the Little Prince was worried that baobabs (described as "trees as big as castles") would grow on his asteroid and take up all the space.

An Australian baobab (Adansonia gibbosa ex. Adansonia gregori) is also called "sour gourd."

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