The Tree of Life

Posted on April 3, 2013

Baobab tree has many other names.  Bottle tree, tabaldi, monkey bread tree or dead rat tree just to name a few.

It has a life span of up to many thousands years though the tree age can’t be verified by the tree ring, as bottle tree doesn’t produce annual rings like some others.

I see that these trees living in a corner of the Singapore Botanic Gardens are much younger compared to those living in Africa in terms of its stature.

There are many remarkable and iconic Baobab growing in Africa.  Judging by the shape, this tree undoubtedly could be one of the famous trees in Madagascar.

The Baobab tree is also called the Tree of Life.  Reason being it not only provides shade but food and water for living beings.  The bark can be used as rope or cloth where the leaves are used as condiments and medicines.  The tree trunk can store water up to hundreds of litres during rainy season and the tree are able to produce fruit later on in the year when everything around them is dry and barren.  The fruit named Monkey Bread is rich in vitamin C and it’s edible.  It is easy to see why baobab is referred to as The Tree of Life.

The matured trees are usually hollow.  It magnanimously provides a sheltered space for human and animals sharing with him the same roof and joining him as a family.

The fame of this tree can’t be denied.  The Baobab tree is also being selected and featured in some Disney’s movie like ‘The Lion King’.  So the next time you see a tree, you may be chancing into the Tree of Life, a tree of fame on this fertile earth.