Sausage Tree

Kigelia africana, often called the sausage tree, is the only species in the genus Kigelia and occurs throughout tropical Africa. Its fruit is up to 60 centimetres long, weighs about 5 to 10 kilograms, and looks like a sausage in a casing. Wikipedia says the fruit and bark are used by African peoples as traditional medicine, and that the fruit is poisonous to humans when raw. In Kenya, around Mount Kenya, the dried fruit is used to make a mead-like drink called muratina. The article also says the tree is held sacred in many African communities and that its fruit is sold in local markets as talismans thought to bring good luck. Afrikaans calls it worsboom, which also means sausage tree. This entry rests on the Kigelia article, which prints the name Kigelia africana and lists Kigelia pinnata as a synonym.