Kigelia

''Kigelia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae. The genus consists of only one species, ''Kigelia africana'', which occurs throughout tropical Africa. The so-called sausage tree grows a poisonous fruit that is up to long, weighs about , and resembles a sausage in a casing.

Etymology

The genus name comes from the Mozambican Bantu name, ''kigeli-keia'', while the common names sausage tree and cucumber tree refer to the long, sausage-like fruit. Its name in Afrikaans ''worsboom'' also means sausage tree, and its Arabic name means "the father of kit-bags".

Description

It is a tree growing up to tall and it typically has spreading branches. The bark is grey and smooth at first, peeling on older trees. It can be as thick as on a diameter branch. The wood is pale brown or yellowish, undifferentiated and not prone to cracking.

Foliage

The tree is evergreen where rainfall occurs throughout the year, but deciduous where there is a long dry season. The leaves are opposite or in whorls of three, long, pinnate, with six to ten oval leaflets up to long and in diameter,the terminal leaflet can be either present or absent.

Flowers

The flowers (and later the fruit) hang down from branches on long flexible stems ( long). According to author/nature photographer Winston Williams, these stems, or peduncles can be up to in length. Flowers are produced in panicles; they are bell-shaped (similar to those of the African tulip tree but broader and much darker and more waxy), orange to maroon or purplish green, and about wide. Individual flowers do not hang down but are oriented horizontally.

Fruit

The fruit is a woody berry from long and up to in diameter, but has been reported. Typically it weighs between but occasionally up to , and hangs down on long, rope-like peduncles. The fruit pulp is fibrous, containing many seeds.

Species associations

Some birds are attracted to the flowers and the strong stems of each flower make ideal footholds. Their scent is most notable at night indicating that they are adapted to pollination by bats, which visit them for pollen and nectar. The flowers also remain open by day however, and are freely visited by many insect pollinators, particularly large species such as carpenter bees. The fruit are eaten by several species of mammals, including baboons, bushpigs, savannah elephants, giraffes, hippopotamuses, monkeys, and porcupines. The seeds are dispersed in their dung. The seeds are also eaten by brown parrots and brown-headed parrots, and the tree's foliage by elephants and greater kudu (Joffe 2003; del Hoyo et al. 1997). Introduced specimens in Australian parks are very popular with cockatoos.

Cultivation and uses

The fresh fruit is poisonous to humans and strongly purgative; fruit are prepared for consumption by drying, roasting or fermentation (Joffe 2003; McBurney 2004). In Botswana, the timber is used for makoros, yokes and oars.

Extracts of the bark, flower and fruit of ''Kigelia africana'' have been increasingly used in skincare products due to the high level of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory constituents.

The hard shell (skin) of the fruit can be hollowed out, cleaned, and made into useful, durable containers of varying sizes.

The tree is widely grown as an ornamental tree in tropical regions for its decorative flowers and unusual fruit. Planting sites should be selected carefully, as the falling fruit can cause serious injury to people and damage vehicles parked under the trees.

Around Mount Kenya, especially among the Kikuyu, Embu and the Akamba, the dried fruits are used to make an alcoholic beverage (''muratina'' in Kikuyu, Aembu and ''kaluvu'' in Kamba), which is a core component in cultural events in central Kenya. The fruit is harvested, split into two along the grain, before being dried in the sun. The dried fruits are then inserted into a fermentation vessel with older, in-use ''muratina'' (''prural'') to activate and inoculate the new ones with yeast. The more the cultures are used, the more potent they become in converting sugars from sugarcane juice and honey to carbon dioxide and alcohol. The alcoholic drink is usually reserved for special occasions like weddings, dowry and burial ceremonies.

Gallery

File:Sausage tree bark 01A.jpg, Detail of bark of the sausage tree
File:Sausage tree flower green 01B.jpg, Developing flower
File:Sausage tree flower green A01.jpg, Sausage tree inflorescence
File:Sausage tree flower ripe 01A.jpg, Fallen sausage tree flower corollas
File:Sausage tree fruit A01.jpg, Fruit of a sausage tree
File:Kigelia africana -flower.JPG, ''Kigelia africana'' flower at Pondicherry, in Puducherry, India
File:Leaves on the tree Im IMG 4108.jpg, Leaves on the tree in Kolkata, West Bengal, India
File:Flower bud I IMG 4104.jpg, Flower bud in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
File:Sausage Tree in Botswana.JPG, A sausage tree in Botswana in use as an airport departure lounge
File:Seeds and husk of Kigelia africana.JPG, Seeds and husk of a broken fruit, Pune, India.
File:Kigelia africana - sausage tree.JPG, ''Kigelia africana'' – sausage tree
File:Kigelia Africana with fruits, Trinidad.JPG, ''Kigelia africana'' with unripe fruits: campus of UWI, Trinidad, Feb. 2015
File:Kigelia Africana.JPG, ''Kigelia africana'': campus of U. West Indies, Trinidad, Feb. 2015
File:Sausage Tree (Kigela africana).JPG, Entryway at the Lincoln Park Conservatory in Chicago, Il
File:Kp Kigelia pinnata flowers IMG 9166 (2216465734).jpg, Inflorescence: ''Kigelia africana''. UQ, St Lucia, Brisbane
File:Kp Kigelia pinnata IMG 8964 (2214369810).jpg, Fruit & flowers: ''Kigelia africana''. UQ, St Lucia, Brisbane

References

Bibliography

*del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & Sargatal, J., eds. (1997). ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' 4: 415. Lynx Edicions.
*Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''Kigelia''. In ''The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening'' 2: 735. Macmillan.
*Joffe, P. (2003)
PlantZAfrica: ''Kigelia africana''

*McBurney, R. (2004)

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

External links

*
Travel Africa: Sausage Tree

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q3009148, from2=Q522883

Bignoniaceae
Bignoniaceae genera
Trees of Africa
Fruits originating in Africa
Plants used in traditional African medicine
Decorative fruits and seeds
Monotypic Lamiales genera