Flower and fruit production usually only takes place once a tree is a certain size. Baobab tree growth is dependent on access to water. Where trees grow in high rainfall areas (+1000mls …per year) baobabs can reach maturity much more quickly than in arid areas. We have worked out that in Venda where rainfall is 350ml per year it can take a ‘young’ baobab 200 years before it produces its first baobab fruit ! Here is a picture of a youthful 180 year old tree. It gives you a real sense of how easily we take the resources of nature for granted without appreciating the energy and time nature puts into the creation of what we harvest.
