Sausage Tree

Afrikaans name: Worsboom

Sausage Tree

Photo © Steven Herbert

Kigelia africana

The Sausage Tree gets its name for its huge elongated fruit (which doesn't really look like a sausage...)

The fruits of the Sausage Tree can be 50 cm long and weigh over 3 kg. The fruit is not edible and may even be poisonous.

Photo © Steven Herbert

The tree provides food to a variety of animals including Elephants who eat the leaves, Nyala eat the flowers and Chacma Baboons eat the (possibly) poisonous fruits.

The Sausage Tree can reach a height of 20 metres.

Photo © Steven Herbert

Photo © Steven Herbert

References and further reading

Whats that Tree? - Author: Eugene Moll - Published: 2011 - Page: 166

Wild Issue 25 - Author: - Published: 2013 - Page: 70

What Tree is That? - Author: Hazel Stokes - Published: 1967 - Page: 31

Trees of Southern Africa - 3rd edition - Author: Keith Coates Palgrave - Published: 2002 - Page: 1013

Sasol First Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa - Author: Elsa Pooley - Published: 1999 - Page: 7

Trees of Kruger - Author: Braam and Piet van Wyk - Published: 2023 - Page: 119

The Complete Field Guide to Trees of Natal, Zululand and Transkei - Author: Elsa Pooley - Published: 1994 - Page: 452

Sixty-six Transvaal Trees - Author: B de Winter, M de Winter & D Killick - Published: 1996 - Page: 152

SA Wild Flower Guide No 4 - Transvaal Lowveld - Author: Jo Onderstall - Published: 1984 - Page: 178

Sappi Tree Spotting: Lowveld - Author: Jacana - Published: 1997 - Page: 216

Photographic Guide to Trees of Southern Africa - Author: B, P, and B-E van Wyk - Published: 2000 - Page: 185

Piet van Wyks Field Guide to the Trees of the Kruger National Park - 1st edition - Author: Piet van Wyk - Published: 1988 - Page: 213

Pocket Guide - Trees of Southern Africa - Author: Piet van Wyk - Published: 2013 - Page: 129

Kruger - Portrait of a National Park - Author: David Paynter with Wilf Nussey - Published: 1986 - Page: 28

Illustrated Guide to the Game Parks and Nature Reserves of SA - 2nd edn - Author: Readers Digest - Published: 1991 - Page: 392

Game Ranger in your Backpack - Author: Megan Emmett and Sean Pattrick - Published: 2013 - Page: 292

Healing Trees & Plants of the Lowveld - Author: Dumes, Loon and Bester - Published: 2009 - Page: 42

A site-by-site guide to trees in the Kruger National Park - Author: Marissa Greeff - Published: 2017 - Page: 10

Everyones Guide to Trees of South Africa - Author: Keith, Paul and Meg Coates Palgrave - Published: 1989 - Page: 99

A Field Guide to the Trees of Southern Africa - Revised - Author: E. Palmer - Published: 1983 - Page: 313

A Field Guide to the Trees of Southern Africa - 1st edition - Author: E. Palmer - Published: 1977 - Page: 286

For more info: SANBI

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