Greetings to all, it is good to be back with you, and this time even more so, because I am here to tell you about a very curious tree. Since I discovered it in the little square in front of my house, some time ago, it had become a great unknown for me. I asked several neighbors and none of them could tell me the name of this tree with such strange flowers.

A week ago I decided that it was time to unveil the mystery and with camera in hand I went out ready to take pictures, to investigate on the internet, what plant it was. My surprise was immense, when I found out that I had discovered a Sausage Tree, hahahaha. Well, although it may seem crazy, this is how this tree is popularly known, this name is due to its curious fruits, which resemble large sausages.

This tree is native to the African continent where it is known by the name of Africaners Worsboom. But, if we speak in botanical terms, the correct name of this species belonging to the family Bignoniaceae and the genus Kigelia, is Kigelia africana.

At first glance, this tree is just one of the bunch, but its flowers and fruits are what really make it stand out. But, before touching on these topics, let's talk about the general characteristics of this semi-evergreen tree. The first thing to highlight is its longevity, which is around 60 years approximately; as for its height, it reaches an average of 10 meters. On the other hand, its foliage is abundant with a rounded shape and an approximate diameter of 14 meters. The trunk, on the other hand, has a grayish bark, which, while the tree is young is smooth, but as the years go by it becomes scaly.

As I already mentioned, this tree has abundant foliage, its large oval-shaped leaves of a showy green color reach about 30 cm long. They are distributed in opposite pairs and are located mainly towards the ends of the branches.

What really caught my attention of this tree, were its peculiar flowers and especially the way they grow, which is very curious. It turns out that they develop in the form of a kind of clusters, and as you can see in the pictures, from a kind of hanging floral rod, the flowers emerge at different levels in groups of 3 flowers, reminding me of a kind of candelabra. On average each cluster has about 12 hermaphrodite flowers, relatively large in size and bell-shaped. Their 4 single petals are of a striking red wine color on the front, however, on the back, they are very curious, because they are striped green and red wine.

An interesting fact about the flowers of this tree is that they open at night, and although once open they remain open during the day, their coloring tends to prevent them from being pollinated by insects, since they are not able to perceive the wavelength that radiates its color. Instead, they are pollinated by bats, who not only identify them by the unpleasant smell they give off at night when they open, but also, when they are hanging, they tend to confuse them with one of them.

The fruits of this plant are also very peculiar, in fact, give rise to the popular name by which it is known, which is Tree of sausages. And this is simply due to its similarity to this type of sausage, in terms of its shape, since it is cylindrical. This grayish-brown fruit measures a maximum of 90 cm in length and about 15 cm in diameter. It is extremely hard and woody and apparently because of this the propagation of its seeds, at least in Africa, depends on elephants, since they are in charge of dispersing the seeds when they eat them. I have been able to appreciate its fruits, because the tree that is near my house, I have never seen any, the flowers fall and the clusters dry up without developing the fruit. I imagine that it needs someone to pollinate them, however, I found images on the internet and I put them here so that you can appreciate them.

Finally, as for the use of the fruit as food for elephants in Africa, in other places where it is found, it is usually ornamental. Although, apparently in some places the fruit is consumed for medicinal purposes, and the Masai people usually ferment the pulp to prepare beer, but they must be very careful, because if the fruit is green, it is toxic. Something that is important to note is that in some African cultures, this tree has an important symbolic and religious value, because its fruits are associated with fertility. In addition, the pulp of the fruit has toning properties, so young women use it to rub on their bodies to promote tonicity. Finally, the bark is also used to treat snake bites and to soothe toothaches and stomach pains.

Amazing Nature Contest: FREE TOPIC - #2/2/23. Best wishes for your health and well being, God bless you all. See you next time.Well, dear readers and nature lovers, it only remains for me to say goodbye, hoping that the images and information I share with you about this curious tree have been to your liking. I especially hope that @bucipuci, @adalger and the whole team of @dna and @amazingnature like it, since it is my entry for this week's contest, in which, if you want to participate, you can access by clicking on the following link

Content and photographs of my intellectual property

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