Baobab trees may be a proxy for measuring long-term use of land by humans. They live long, have economic benefits, and are ...

Baobab trees get their nickname from the huge variety of uses for their bark and fruit, from medicine to food to paper, and their own ability to live for centuries — as long as 3,000 years!

Baobabs are also the longest-lived African trees; in 2011, a baobab that died in Zimbabwe at the age of 2,450 made it the oldest of all flowering plants to be documented on the African continent.

The sun sets behind a baobab tree, known as the tree of life, in Mudzi, Zimbabwe, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Credit: AP/Aaron Ufumeli. By The Associated PressUpdated September 18, 2024.

Calling something the “tree of life” may conjure up a lush arboreal species with mouth-watering fruit. Yet on the African continent, this moniker is reserved for the baobab tree. Upon first ...

Baobabs are also the longest-lived African trees; in 2011, a baobab that died in Zimbabwe at the age of 2,450 made it the oldest of all flowering plants to be documented on the African continent.