Saba senegalensis is a multi-purpose liana from sub-Saharan Africa that is under threat from over-exploitation of its fruits and from land degradation and erratic rainfall affecting its regeneration. This research aims to assess survival, growth and dry matter distribution in the responses to water regimes of S. sene-galensis seedlings of nine provenances from slightly, moderately and severe-ly dry zones in Burkina Faso. The study parameters were provenance, water re-gimes and duration of drought stress. A total of 567 seedlings (63 per provenance) were grown using a factorial design. Five months after germination, three water regimes were applied: high, medium and low soil water content, corresponding re-spectively to 100, 75 and 50% of soil pot capacity. The experiments lasted for 6, 9 and 12 months after water stress began. Survival rates, growth parameters, bio-mass production, stress tolerance and stress sensitivity indexes were calculat-ed and the data analyzed using a linear mixed model. Drought stress reduced seedling survival and biomass produc-tion, while the relative growth rate in collar diameter increased. Concerning the duration of drought stress, the rela-tive growth rate of seedlings in collar di-ameter decreased and the shoot to root ratio increased. After six months under stress, the seedlings had invested more in roots, whereas after nine and twelve months the reverse trend was observed. Furthermore, seedlings from the slightly dry zone produced more biomass when watered under a low soil water content regime, and were more drought-tolerant than those from severely and moderate-ly dry zones. This could indicate that the seedlings originating from these zones are well adapted to growth under severe water stress. For S. senegalensis domes-tication programs, seedlings originating from the slightly dry zones can be suc-cessfully propagated in agroforestry sys-tems where water is a limiting factor.