Sausage Tree Seeds (Kigelia pinnata)

Sausage Tree

Kigelia pinnata Seeds

This medium-to-large tree - up to 45FT in height - is grown in gardens less for its beauty than for its noveltyvalue. In Malawi, roasted fruits are used to flavour beer and aid fermentation. The tough wood is used for shelving and fruit boxes, and dugout canoes are made from the tree in Botswana and Zimbabwe. Roots are said to yield a bright yellow dye. Traditional remedies prepared from crushed, dried or fresh fruits are used to deal with ulcers, sores and syphilis - the fruit has antibacterial activity. Today, beauty products and skin ointments are prepared from fruit extracts. Fresh fruit cannot be eaten - it is said to be a strong purgative and causes blisters in the mouth and on the skin. Green fruits are said to be poisonous. In time of carcity,seeds are roasted and eaten.

The sausage tree boasts long, open sprays of large, wrinkled, maroon or dark red trumpet-shaped flowers that are velvety on the inside and that virtually overflow with nectar. The unique fruits look like giant sausages!

Kigelia is a forest tree and will grow in either sun or shade. The short, squat trunk has light brown, sometimes flaky bark and supports a dense rounded to spreading crown (18 m high, 20 m wide) of leathery, slightly glossy foliage. The huge, grey-brown fruits,800 x 120 mm hang from long stalks and weigh anything up to 9 kg!