A zoo is entertaining and informative.

Just like our botanical gardens.

Yes, gardens.

Instead of animals, our "living museum" is comprised of diverse plants gathered from throughout the world.

The excitement you may feel watching a lion yawn, or a monkey swing from tree to tree, is replaced by a tranquil feeling as you stroll from plant to tree.

In the case of the Honolulu botanical gardens, the plants are from other tropical and subtropical locations, suited for the growing conditions here.

The African tree produces white flowers that hang down from 2-foot-long stems. They open in the evening, to be pollinated by bats and insects. The greenish-yellow, furry fruits that develop resemble rats hanging by their tails from the tree. This is why the baobab often is called the "dead-rat tree."

It is also called by other common names, including monkey-bread tree, in reference to the baboons and other animals that eat the fruits in its native habitat. The seeds inside are covered with a whitish pulp that gives rise to another name: the cream of tartar tree. The pulp is used to make a tart and refreshing drink.

Another popular name for the baobab is the upside-down tree. When the leaves are shed and the branches are bare, it looks like the tree was shoved into the ground top first, with only the trunk and roots in the air.

Plants may not be cute, cuddly or personable like the animals you see at the zoo, but they are every bit as interesting — and important — in the cycle of life.

The tree at Foster Garden was grown as seed from the baobab growing at The Queen's Medical Center.

Check us out. One plus over the zoo: Our plants don't beg. Or bite.