specimens of the African relative of boabs have been estimated to live close to 2,000 years, but the Australian ones are not as well-documented. Uses The plant has a wide variety of uses; most parts are edible and it is the source of a number of materials. Its medicinal products and the ability to store water through dry seasons has been exploited. Aboriginal Australians obtained water from the tree, owing to its ability to store huge amounts of water; some of the oldest and largest trees can hold more than of water in their trunks. They also use the white powder that fills the seed pods (or pith, said to taste like sherbet or cream of tartar) as a food. Decorative paintings or carvings were sometimes made on the outer surface of the fruit. The bark and leaves are used medicinally, in particular for digestive ailments. The root fibres are used to create string. The 1889 book Useful native plants of Australia states that "The dry acidulous pulp of the fruit is eaten. It has an agreeable taste, like cream of tartar". European use of the trees has included letter boxes and jails. The leaves may see a future use prepared as food, due to their high iron content. The leaves can be boiled and eaten as a spinach; the seeds can be ground and used as a coffee-like beverage, and fermenting the pulp creates a type of beer. Notable trees A large hollow boab south of Derby, Western Australia is reputed to have been used in the 1890s as a lockup for Aboriginal prisoners on their way to Derby for sentencing. The Boab Prison Tree, Derby is now a tourist attraction. Another hollow boab near Wyndham, Western Australia was also used as a prison tree. The Hillgrove Lockup or Wyndham Prison Tree is on the King River Road out of Wyndham near the Moochalabra Dam. There is also a boab tree located within the Wyndham Caravan Park that is billed as "the biggest boab in captivity". Gija Jumulu is a large boab which was transported from Warmun in the Kimberley region to Kings Park in the Western Australian capital city, Perth in 2008. the tree was growing well, after an initial period showing signs of stress after the move, demonstrating the adaptability of the species in a different climate. Gregory's Tree, in the Gregory's Tree Historical Reserve at Timber