200 pages, illustrated throughout with colour photographs, grey cloth, a good copy in the dust jacket. First edition Struik, Cape Town, 2007.

In an absorbing, inspired account, author Rupert Watson explores the life and time of this fascinating tree, from its early Madagascan beginnings to its present status on the continent and it future in a changing Africa. He effortlessly mixes natural science, history and personal experience, drawing on extracts from the journals of early explorers who, on encountering these extraordinary trees, measured and sketched them for a sceptical audience back home; and he presents intriguing, detailed accounts of the baobabs eccentric growth and reproductive habits, its present-day distribution, and its wide impact on everyday African life (Editors note)