This is one of the strangest looking trees in the whole food forest once it starts producing, and it isn’t even something we can eat.
The Basics
Sausage tree, Kigelia africana, is a large tree in the family Bignoniaceae.
Origin and Habitat
Native to tropical Africa, where it grows across savanna and riverine woodland.
What It Looks Like
A spreading tree with dark maroon flowers pollinated by bats at night, followed by enormous, hard, sausage-shaped fruit that hang down on long stalks and can weigh several pounds each.
Uses and Flavor
The fruit is toxic and purgative raw, not something anyone eats out of hand. In Africa it’s processed and used traditionally in beer brewing and folk medicine, and the dried, sliced fruit has become a novelty ingredient in some skin toning cosmetic products.
Growing It Here
Planted in the breakfast orchard right next to an eggfruit tree, back on day two of the one tree a day year. Been part of that corner of the food forest ever since, and 2026 turned out to be the year it finally produced its first sets of flowers.
Pests and Diseases to Watch For
Nothing to report so far.
Kenta’s Take
It’s not a food tree by any stretch, but those huge hanging pods are going to be a genuine conversation piece now that it’s finally flowering, still needs some practice before it makes its first proper sausage.