Kigelia Species, Sausage Tree

I sowed one old seed from a friend. I scarified it and it germinated within few weeks. Without scarification germination can be very slow...Read More. The seedling tolerated some cool highs, even light frosts last winter without problem. Seems to be hardy in the S. Mediterranean.

The Kigelia Tree, (sausage tree) is a very fast growing shade tree for south Florida. My Wife and I picked up seedlings at the Edison Hou...Read Morese, its supposed origin to the states about 8 years ago and one of the trees is over 30' now on its 7th year in the ground. Today, March,25th it is showing its first blooms ever. I plan on taking my own seedlings to north central Florida. In our experience a healthy start in a container may help the plant in it new more northern climate. I will post my results. Thank you.

I have 4 of these 1 yr old seedlings in small pots. I am in NE FL. I kept them in the greenhouse this past winter but was only keeping it...Read More in the 40's at night. We dropped into the teens a few nights during the 'freeze of 2010' I had my heat go out one night and many of my tropicals in the gh died.
I had these little seedlings near a wall and they lost every leaf and I thought they were goners. In the spring they all grew back and are doing great. Being seedlings and in pots and enduring the teens or close to it..they are pretty hardy little things. I am going to experiment planting them in the ground when they are a little older.

Kigelia Pinnata, popularly called the sausage tree, is a spreading tree bearing long, pendulous racemes of mottled dark flowers which app...Read Moreear like a candelebra. Its fruits are long and woody, sausage like in appearance with long cord-like stalks.

Lofty wide-spreading tree up to 15 m high, often cultivated as an ornament for its cylindrical fruits, which weigh up to 6 kg. The fruits, very similar to large sausages, are eaten by baboons in the wild.

K.africana also grows in South India, mostly in dry decidious forests and in cities as shade-trees alongside roads; very rarely in privat...Read Moree gardens. Fascinating tree: the flowers, though dramatic, can knock one down with their overpowering stink of rotting meat! Evidently pollinated by flies, bats and some birds.

Kigelia africana is an African species (obviously), from the savanna, where many animals take advantage of the dense shade, large ...Read Moreflowers (for nectar) and fruits. Baboons are said to be frequently seen eating the long fruits.

The dark floiage, the purple, bell shaped flowers and the long, sausage-shaped fruits make an interesting combination. There´s an specimen growing in the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, under totaly different climatic conditions from the original habitat of this species, so I can guess it´s tolerant to humidity and moisture. I believe it needs high temperatures to grow, though.