Kigelia is a genus of in the trumpet vine family Bignoniaceae. The genus consists of only one species, Kigelia africana, syn. Kigelia pinnata, which occurs throughout tropical Africa and is cultivated elsewhere in the tropics.
Often called sausage tree, it grows a fruit that is up to long, weighs about , and resembles a sausage in a casing. The fruit and bark of the plant are used by African tribes as traditional medicine. The fruit is for humans when raw,
Etymology
The genus name comes from the Mozambican
Bantu language name,
kigeli-keia, while the common names sausage tree and cucumber tree
refer to the large
sausage-shaped fruit.
Its name in
Afrikaans, worsboom, also means sausage tree, while its
Arabic name means "the father of
".
Description
The tree can be
deciduous or
evergreen depending on rainfall.
It has a rounded crown, a thick trunk, and spreading, low-branching limbs; its bark is dark grey to light brown and scaly, with the inner bark being creamy-white, and the branches are marked with
Lenticel.
It can grow up to tall.
The bark is grey and smooth at first, peeling on older trees. It can be as thick as on a diameter branch.
The tree mostly grows in the wild, especially in wetter places such as rainforest, woodland, wetter savanna, and shrubland on Loam, Ultisol soil, which may be rocky.
Foliage
The
Leaf are arranged alternately along the stem and are divided into several pairs of leaflets, usually with a single leaflet at the tip.
Each leaf can be up to long and typically has three to six pairs of opposite leaflets.
The leaflets are shaped from oval to narrow and pointed, measuring long and wide.
Their edges are mostly smooth, sometimes slightly toothed, and their bases are slightly uneven, ranging from rounded to wedge-shaped.
The upper surface of the leaflets is shiny green and often rough, while the underside is dull green and can be either smooth or softly hairy.
The
Midrib is sunken on the upper side, with seven to twelve pairs of prominent side veins visible underneath.
The leaves do not have
Stipule, and the terminal leaflet can be either present or absent.
[Diniz, MA, 1988. Bignoniaceae. In: Flora Zambesiaca, Vol. 8, Part 3, ed.. London, United Kingdom: Flora Zambesiaca Managing Committee. 61-85.]
Flowers
The
hang down from branches on long flexible stems ( long), exceptionally up to in length.
The flowers are produced in
; they are bell-shaped and fleshy
(similar to those of the
Spathodea but broader, darker, and more waxy), orange to maroon or purplish green, and about (occasionally as much as
) wide. The flowers are
hermaphrodite, display symmetry across only one plane (
Floral symmetry), and have petals arranged in groups of five.
The flowers have four fertile
Stamen: one smaller sterile stamen, a conical ovary, and emit a strong unpleasant scent at night, attracting
Bat for
pollination, though are also much visited in daylight by nectar-feeding birds.
Fruit
The fruit is a tough, very fibrous, indehiscent, greyish-brown,
somewhat woody berry from long
and up to diameter, but has been reported.
Typically the fruit weighs between
but occasionally up to ,
and hangs down on the long, rope-like peduncles. The fruit pulp is fibrous, containing many
, which are unwinged, 1.25 cm long, and
obovate.
The fruit pulp is
to humans and strongly
purgative, causing blistering of the tongue and skin, though the seeds may be roasted and eaten safely.
Uses
Traditionally, the tree has been used by local African tribes in the belief that the plant is useful as a
herbal medicine for various disorders.
The tree components contain diverse
Phytochemical, including
phenols, coumarins,
Sterol,
Triterpene,
Diterpene,
Fatty acid,
Quinone,
Iridoid,
Alkane, and
Ester.
In Botswana, the timber is used for , yokes and oars.
Around Mount Kenya, especially among the Kikuyu people, Embu people and the Kamba people, the dried fruit are used to make an alcoholic mead beverage (muratina in Kikuyu language).
The tree is widely grown as an Ornamental plant in tropical regions for its decorative flowers and unusual fruit.
Kigelia africana also holds significant cultural and spiritual importance for many African communities.
== Gallery ==
in use as an airport departure lounge]]
eating the fruit]]
External links
