Australian Bottle Tree

Australian bottle tree is very common in some places.
Also called Australian baobab, gadawon, dead rat-, gouty stem- and bottle tree, it is a medium-sized tree that have a trunk that looks like a bottle.


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Boab Tree of the Kimberley

Adaptations
The parts of Australia, Africa and Madagascar where this tree is found, are all relatively dry, at least during one season of the year. During the dry season, these trees drop their leaves, and grow new leaves in the beginning of wet season again.


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Bark, Leaves, Flowers and Fruits
It has got a brown smooth bark, which turns grey in older trees. It has got alternate, palmate leaves with leaflets radiating from the end of the leaf stalk. The leaves are dark green above and pale below, with soft hair on the underside. It has got creamy white flowers, about 10cm long, which appear most of the year, but the best time to see them is in the spring while the tree is still leafless. The fruits are black or dark brown, about 20cm long and they ripe in late summer and early autumn.


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Habitat
In Australia, the tree is found in parts of Kimberley in northern parts of Western Australia; and in the north-eastern parts of Northern Territory. It lives on rocky outcrops in open woodlands, and as you drive through those areas, there are plenty of bottle trees right next to the main roads.


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Queensland Bottle Tree

Where Else to See Boab Tree
You can occasionally see them in other parts of Australia, where they have been planted to parks and botanical gardens, but sometimes even to the wild nature. The Queensland Bottle Tree looks a bit similar but is a different species.


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