Baobab

The upside-down tree

The baobab looks like it was planted upside down — its branches look like roots! Legend says God planted the baobab upside down in anger. The baobab's trunk is as fat as a bottle — it stores 100,000 litres of water inside. It drops its leaves in the dry season and stands 'naked' for 9 months. Some baobabs are 2,000 years old!

The African baobab (Adansonia digitata) is a tree of the savannas south of the Sahara, with a trunk up to 10–14 m across. Its bottle-shaped trunk of spongy wood stores up to 120,000 litres of water — in droughts, elephants rip it open with their tusks to drink. It stands leafless for 9 months a year. Radiocarbon dating shows the oldest baobabs are over 2,500 years old; between 2005 and 2017, 9 of the 13 oldest baobabs died, probably due to climate change. Its fruit ('monkey bread') has 6 times more vitamin C than an orange. Madagascar has 6 endemic baobab species.

Fun facts

• A baobab holds 120,000 litres of water — that's 600 bathtubs!
• Some baobabs are hollow — they've housed a shop and even a prison.
• Baobab fruit has 6 times more vitamin C than an orange.