|DESCRIPTION: Large deciduous to semi-evergreen trees up to 25-30 m tall with impressive trunks. USE: The fruit and seed are edible. The seeds contain oil used for cooking and the bark fiber is used for robes. It can be used as an indoor plant or bonsai plant. GROWING PERIOD: Perennial. COMMON NAMES: Baobab, Monkey Bread tree. FURTHER INF: Native to the deciduous tropical forests of western Madagascar. Solitary trees are often relics of a forest which was cleared. They were probably spared because they were too big to chop down. The climate of the trees native ecoregion is tropical, with temperatures ranging from a mean maximum of 30-33°C and a mean minimum of 8-21°C. In its native region there is a wet and a dry season, with most of the rainfall from October to April. Precipitation declines from an annual average of around 1500 mm in the north to around 1000 mm in the south of the region. The ecoregion occupies the rain shadow on the western side of the central highlands of Madagascar and has a relatively long, pronounced dry season. Seedlings and young trees need a protected light shaded site, whereas older trees thrive in full sunlight. One of the six species of baobabs endemic from Madagascar, perhaps the better known of Malagasy baobabs. Occurs in the western part of the Island. It is the largest baobab species on the island.