I had heard of these as a child from a friend that went to Botswana. Read about them in books and heard them mentioned in passing in documentaries.
This December I got to see one for myself.
The amazing sausage tree.
From a distance it looks pretty much like any other tree.
Get up a little closer and you see what looks like huge fat sausages hanging from its branches.
Even closer and you realize they must be seed pods of some kind.
They come in a variety of different shapes and sizes depending on their stage of growth.
The stem of the tree is rather thick and sturdy.
When ripe they fall to the ground. You dont want to be parking your car or camping under this tree!!!
Breaking one open I found it green and fleshy inside with pips, almost like a cucumber, just a lot more firm and robust.
Quite a bit of moisture is stored inside and it doesn't taste too bad. Would definitely work if you were in the bush and out of water.
Elephants and other wildlife love eating these.
I took the one pictured above home and two months later its still in good shape. It has not lost much moisture and there are no signs of rotting. I have seen completely dried ones and they simply shrivel and shrink in diameter as they dry out and lose all internal moisture.
I saw this. Awesome looking this.
Where? If I may ask?
#til the sausage tree thanks to you
I saw one of these trees in Hawaii once. Amazing looking things.
Didn't know the were found outside of Africa... Thanks for that.
That was a single specimen tree in a garden, so I doubt it was native.
Ok, that makes sense...
How cool, they look like sea cucumbers
Good comparison, about as fat
jag såg detta tack
Nice Post...In German the tree is called Leberwurstbaum😆
Great name... liver sausage tree?
Yes liver is leber .. you know the German leberwurst .. tasted good.😊
You are welcome to visit my last post with the excotic plants.greets
Good.
This did not know is new to me, great tree, congratulations on the find, thank you very much for sharing dear friend @ gavvet
@gavvet
I wonder how heavy they are? But will take your advice @gavvet and not go camping under one lol, thanks upped.
The big ones are a kilo or two.
They are growing Australia as well. Often see them where the are or used to be cattle yards. Good shade tree and can cope with the heavy trampling and I guess the bonus fertiliser doesn't hurt them either. I remember as a boy play fighting using the sausage on the string as a weapon.
I found out some interesting info http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/kigelia-africana-sausage-tree
I never knew about the medical properties or that they were toxic. Glad I was never hungry Enough to try eat one.
Thanks for the link, intriguing to here you have them in OZ to...