Features:
Common name: African Baobab
Family: Bombacaceae
Origin: Africa
Height at maturity: up to 25 meters
Hardiness: 5°C
Exposure: sunny, partial shade
Plant type: tree
Vegetation: perennial
Foliage: falls in the dry season
Flowering: May to August
Flower color: white
Soil type: ordinary, well-draining
Watering: normal to dry
Use: container, bonsai
Diseases and insect pests: resistant to diseases
Toxicity: –
Storage of seeds: 4 years in a dry place away from light at 3/4°C (refrigerator)
Description:
The African baobab is a caudex tree. Its potbellied trunk and waterlogged wood has a very characteristic look, it is massive and can reach 25 meters in height for a crown of 12 meters in diameter composed of irregular branches and devoid of leaves 9 months out of 12. It is one of the explanations for its name “the tree upside down” because it seems to have been turned upside down.
Adansonia digitata is the only representative of the eight baobab species to have pendulous flowers (white 10 to 12cm in diameter) unlike the other species, which have erect flowers. The stamens form feathery tufts.
The fruits, edible, are woody, ovoid 25 centimeters containing a lot of seeds. They are rich in vitamins and have a tangy taste that particularly appeals to monkeys, hence their name monkey bread.
The bark is very fibrous, gray in color and smooth in appearance. It has the particularity of regenerating itself.
Tree with slow growth, it lives very long, some subjects are more than 2000 years old.
This tree is the emblem of Senegal.
You can grow baobabs indoors but it is imperative to provide them with plenty of heat and light, you can take them out in spring and summer.
