Kigelia africana

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Photographs by: Dr. Maulik Gadani

Botanical Name : Kigelia africana (Lam.) Benth.
Synonyms : Kigelia pinnata (Jacq) DC, Crescentia pinnata Jacq.
Common Name : Common Sausage Tree, Cucumber Tree
Plant Family : Bignoniaceae
Plant Form : Tree
Occurrence (Sectors) : 2, 10, 13, 22, 23, 25-27, 30
Occurrence (Special Areas) : Sarita Udyan, Van Chetana Kendra, Infocity, Aranya Van

Habit : A large tree.
Leaves : Opposite, impair pinnate, with 3 pairs of leaflets and an odd one, elliptic-oblong, serrate or entire, sessile.
Flowers :
- Flowers in long pendulous racemes, large, of fine chocolate red in colour.
- Calyx bell-shaped of 2-5 lobes.
- Corolla campanulate, tube broad with 5 spreading lobes which are two lipped deflexed and beautifully coloured hanging on long rope-like peduncles.
- Stamens 4, didynamous and anthers divergent disk annular.
- Ovary, lare, superior, 2-celled, ovules many, style long with 2-lobed stigma.
Fruit :
- Amphisarca very large, indehiscent, remain hanging on the tree in groups of 2 or 3 on very large rope-like peduncles for many months.
- Seeds many, embedded in white pulp.
Flowering and Fruiting Time : March-July
Significance : Commonly grown in the gardens and planted on roads as an avenue tree.