Description
This large deciduous tree grows to 18m and it is very fast growing.
The trunk has light brown sometimes flaky bark and supports a dense rounded to spreading crown of leathery slightly glossy foliage. The leaves are browsed by kudu and elephant. The sausage tree produces long open sprays of large wrinkled maroon or dark red trumpet–shaped flowers that are velvety on the inside and that virtually overflow with nectar. The flowers have an unpleasant smell at night which attracts the bats which pollinate them. Baboon and monkeys eat the flowers and the fallen flowers are eaten by kudu, nyala, porcupine, impala and grey duiker. Nocturnal animals like bushpig, civets also eat the flowers. The fruits are unique, huge, grey–brown and sausage like and weigh about 4- 10 kg. Plant where falling fruit will not do damage to cars. They have antibacterial properties and is said to cure skin cancer. The fruit pulp is used in the production of cosmetics. Seeds from the ripe fruit are edible if roasted but are only used as famine food. Some say that the fruit is inedible and that the seeds are poisonous when green. Hippo and giraffe also eat the seed pods. The fruit are hung in a hut to protect against whirlwinds and evil. Birds eat the seeds. It has a rather aggressive root system, so it must be planted far from buildings and swimming pools. Plant alongside rivers and dams on farms and game farms. It is also suitable for large estates and municipal parks. It attracts birds and has numerous medicinal uses from snake bite treatment, ulcers, syphillis, rheumatism, pneumonia, ulcers, epilepsy, toothache to stomach and kidney complaints. Also used to ward off evil. It is also said to be an aphrodisiac and is used to fatten babies!. Lactating mothers rub the fruit on their breasts to stimulate milk production. The boiled fruit produces a red dye. The ripe fruit is mixed with honey and the bark of the tree to ferment beer. The hard wood is used for canoes as it does not crack. The mokoro’s used in the Okavango Delta are carved from straight tree trunks. It is not a good firewood but the pods are burnt during times of wood scarcity. It is a larval host to the Coast Glider butterfly and one moth specie. The tree is regarded as holy and church services are held in the shade of these magnificent tree-cathedrals. It is a protected tree in South Africa. The Mozambican name is kigeli-keia. In his diary, David Livingston described the Sausage Tree under which they camped before seeing the Victoria Falls. This was at Kazangulu where Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and the Caprivi meet. Kazangulu was named after this famous Sausage Tree. One African name means ‘the fat tail of the sheep’ and the Arabic name means ‘the father of kit bags’. If somebody dies away from home, then the family bury a fruit in their memory.