Bottle tree is an Australian tree whose trunk looks like a round bottle. Bottle trees thrive in dry areas of northeastern Australia. Bottle trees grow as tall as 60 feet (18 meters), but the main part of the trunk is short and thick. It extends from 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 meters) above the ground. Then, just below the branches, the trunk gradually narrows, giving the tree its bottlelike shape. Many bottle tree trunks measure about 6 feet (1.8 meters) in diameter.
Bottle trees can live in a dry climate because they store water under their inner bark. The inside of the trunk consists of a soft, spongy material that contains jellylike sap. The bottle tree’s leaves consist of clusters of narrow leaflets. The leaflets measure 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) long. The baobab tree of Africa is related to—and is sometimes called—the bottle tree.
