Tree: Sausage Tree (Kigelia africana)

[Senyetse]

Photographed in Pretoriuskop October 2007.

[reinette]

This was at the loop close to Punda Maria near the Dzundzwini viewpoint. Isn't the flowers just beautiful?!
Pictures taken 21 September 2007

[MarkWildDog]

Tanx senyetse and reinette for some great pics. Here is an interesting link on this tree.

[Wild about cats]

Kigela Africana

Description: A large tree with smooth grey bark. The large flowers are borne on pendulous stalks and are maroon. However attractive, they have a foul smell. Ther fruits are sausage shaped, hence the name, and are greyish-brown, which can be up to a metre in length. They contain nutritious seeds, embedded fibrous pulp.

Medicinal uses: Is said to sooth ulcers, sores, and syphilis.

Distribution: Occurs in Northern and North-eastern parts of South Africa, and is widely distributed up north in tropical africa.

[whitehead]

Kigelia africana or K. pinata the sausage tree is known in SiLozi as Kazungula.
A sausage tree once stood on the western bank of the Zambezi river at its confluence with the Chobe or Linyanti river.
David Livingstone the explorer camped under this tree which I have a photograph of taken in 1953.
Livingstone carved his initials on the bole of the tree and under his initials he carved LMS for London Missionary Society.
When I took the photograph LMS was still visible but not his initials.
The tree is no longer there but the town in Zambia on the opposite bank of the mile wide river is called KAZUNGULA.

[Toko]

in September

Hi forestgump and evrybody,

it's a superb idea your tree online corse and I like the idea to illustrate it with fotos. Here my favorite tree!!! and the only one I can ID...

[forestgump]

Kigelia africana , Sausage tree, Toko thanks for the photo's

Not a good tree to plant in parking lots !

[forestgump]

I'll skip the technical jargon , but this is what the leaves look like, they are thick,
rigid and very leathery to the touch.

[Toko]

and this is what the sausages look like. Is the sausage a fruit?

[Scadoxus]

I managed to get a close-up of these flowers. Normally we see only the thick fruit hanging from the stems - strange to think that this thin stem will be able to hold such big fruit

[TreeQueen]

The Sausage Tree is one of my favourites

I have read somewhere on the internet that the large sausage pods are used as charms and fetishes by the local traditional people.

I love the one that is situated in the centre of the thatch roof at Tshokwane picnic spot Lovely tree it is

[adw]

Can someone please help me id this tree. (I am trying to improve my knowledge on trees and have recently purchased the Sappi tree spotting book for the lowveld but I cant id this tree in the book.)

and here is the close up of the bark and leaves


The above photos were taken in May 2011. I am not sure which road but I think it could be the S36 south near Jones dam.

Here is a picture of the same type of tree and this photo was taken in June 2010 north of Satara on the H1-4. Only took a photo of the tree and no close-up of the bark or leaves.