Dead-rat-tree

Adansonia digitata, the African baobab, is an iconic deciduous tree in the mallow family (Malvaceae, formerly Bombacaceae) native to the savannas and dry woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of the longest-lived flowering plants on earth, with mature specimens often exceeding a thousand years in age, reaching 5 to 25 meters in height with an extraordinary, massively swollen, water-storing trunk that may be 10 meters or more in girth. The smooth grayish bark is fibrous and remarkably regenerative. During the brief leafy season the digitately compound leaves bear five to seven (occasionally up to nine) leaflets, giving rise to the specific epithet. Large, pendulous, solitary white flowers up to 12 centimeters across open at dusk for a single night and are pollinated chiefly by fruit bats. The fruits are large, woody, ovoid, velvety-haired capsules containing many seeds embedded in a dry, acidic, naturally dehydrated whitish pulp rich in vitamin C, often called 'monkey bread.'