Which tree species is the national tree of Madagascar and has a trunk shaped like a bottle?

Grandidier’s baobab is the bottle-trunked tree recognized as Madagascar’s national tree.

Adansonia grandidieri is endemic to Madagascar, meaning it occurs naturally nowhere else. It is especially associated with the island’s western dry forests and the Avenue of the Baobabs near Morondava, where large trees stand beside a dirt road.

The species has a broad, swollen trunk, a relatively narrow crown, and smooth reddish-brown bark. Like other baobabs, it stores water in its trunk and loses its leaves during the dry season. Its large flowers open at night and are pollinated largely by mammals such as fruit bats.

It is often confused with Adansonia digitata, the African baobab, which occurs on mainland Africa. Madagascar has several native baobab species, but Grandidier’s baobab is the island’s most iconic and widely photographed species.