Ceratonia siliqua

The Ceratonia siliqua tree grows up to 15 metres tall. The crown is broad and semi-spherical, supported by a thick trunk with brown rough bark and sturdy branches. Leaves are 10 to 20 cm long, alternate, pinnate, and may or may not have a terminal leaflet. It is frost-tolerant. Most carob trees are dioecious, some are hermaphrodite. The male trees don’t produce fruit. The trees blossom in autumn. The flowers are small and numerous, spirally arranged along the inflorescence axis in catkin-like racemes borne on spurs from old wood and even on the trunk. The fruit is a legume that can be elongated, compressed, straight or curved, and thickened at the sutures. The pods take a full year to develop and ripen. The ripe pods eventually fall to the ground and are eaten by various mammals, thereby dispersing the seed.