Baobab Tree (Also Known As Kuka Tree)

One of the world's oldest and largest trees, indigenous to Africa, India, and Australia; also known as the kuka. Although there are different types of baobabs, those found in the dry savanna regions of Africa are scientifically classified as Adansonia digitata. Because its leaves only bloom for a brief period during the year, some view the baobab as an enormous upside-down bottle whose branches resemble twisted roots.

Ethnic groups in regions where the trees grow, such as Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Senegal, the Limpopo Valley, and Zimbabwe, have known for centuries that the baobab is a major sustainer of life. Some groups, in fact, refer to the baobab as "mother" because its pulp is used for healing a wide range of ailments. It has been used for treating scurvy, malaria, and rickets, as well as infections of the eye, skin, gums, and urinary tract. Beyond this, the baobab's bark has been used to make rope, fabric, and even fishing nets. The leaves, when in bloom, have been used to flavor drinks and stews and to produce a fruit, about 1 foot in length, called "monkey bread."

Baobabs measuring more than twenty feet wide are estimated to be about 1,000 years old. Generally, the older the tree, the more water its hollow trunk and interior roots can reserve. This is particularly critical in the more arid regions where humans and animals such as elephants seek water during long droughts and have inadvertently destroyed the trees as a result.

In ancient times, these large trunks served as burial tombs for high-ranking kings, chieftains, or founding members of family clans. This tradition was strongest among the Wolof and Serer of Senegal and the Batonga peoples of Zimbabwe, who laid their dead to rest with jewelry and surrounded by other valuable items. These groups referred to the living tree as an "ancestor," paying homage through special rites and ceremonies.

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