This is one unique tree – so massive it can grow, especially with respect to its trunk girth, that it often takes several pairs of hands to encircle it fully. This tree has the distinction of being among the longest-lived flora species in the world – a baobab in all its thick trunk glory and enormous height can be up to three centuries old. As per legends, this is the upside-down tree which was thrust headfirst into the earth by the devil, leaving its roots in the air – true or not, this legend aptly describes baobab’s leafless look.
Culturally, baobab is to Africa what Peepal or Banyan are to India, for this tree is referred to as “arbre a palabre” in West Africa, meaning the place in the village where the elders meet to resolve problems.*
This deciduous tree, with large white flowers and palmately compound leaves, has a dimpled silver-grey bark. Its night-blooming blossoms are bat-pollinated. The tree has high usage in its native range, both as edible and medicinal products and is quite the darling of food, pharmaceutical & nutraceutical and cosmetic industries, where its seed oil and fruit pulp are in demand.
The fact that some of the largest and thickest baobabs can be observed in India shows how old the Indian trade ties with the Arabs were - for research indicates that the Arabs brought the baobab from sub-Saharan African to Indian shores millennia ago.