Baobab Tree {Adansonia digitata} Bonsai Favorite | Sacred Flowering Tree | 5 Viable Untreated seeds | Tropical Exotic

Family: Bombaceae
Hardy to Zones 10 to 12.  May be grown as a potted plant, 
brought in for the winter.  Protect from frost.
Perennial succulent tree native to Africa.  
 Surely one of the most unusual trees on earth, the Baobab is elephant-like 
in a land of elephants, with a vastly stocky trunk and humanoid branches. 

Bears pendulous, giant, white-winged flowers 
that sport globular arrays of yellow-tipped stamens and give way 
to the velvety, elongated fruits. These fruits contain a powdery 
pulp, rich in citric and tartaric acid (also quercetin), that 
makes a refreshing, tart, astringent drink. The young leaves of 
the tree are steamed and eaten as a nutritious food.  The bark is 
twisted into fiber and used in basketry or rope making. The plant 
prefers dry conditions, well-drained soil and tolerates full sun. 
A rarity in domestic culture.  Scarify the large, roundish seeds 
and plant in warm, sandy soil.
 Scarify by rubbing on sandpaper in one spot until the 
testa is rubbed through and the white pericarp just shows.  
Alternately, hold the seed down on a cutting board with one finger 
and slice through one end of the seed, thus revealing a small 
window through which you will see the white pericarp.  Incomplete 
scarification will yield no results–the testa must be pierced!