12311 Kigelia pinnata – Sausage Tree

Description

The Sausage Tree belongs to the family of trumpet tree plants. Because of its tiny fruits it is meanwhile distributed in all areas of the tropics. The pinnate leaves are of oval shape. The flowers are bell-shaped and have a brown-violet colour. In its native environment, this magnificent tree grows up to a height of about 15 m and develops a wide shady crown. During periods of dryness, however, it is completely leafless. Sausage-like fruits that grow up to 40 cm in length, the brownish surface of which is roughened up by cork cells, do develop at the end of its long peduncles, which have the girth of a finger. This hard-shelled (and inedible) fruits do, by the way, have a versatile use in folk medicine; among other things they serve as a medicine against snake bites.