Sausage From A Tree

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Many gourmets and gardeners would dream of getting a tree that bears fruit with meat delicacies. Having acquired a wonderful kigelia on the windowsill, we can safely say that a sausage tree has settled in your house. However, for real sausages, you still have to go to the store … But you will be provided with rare African exoticism and enthusiastic exclamations of guests

A treat for baboons, giraffes and hippos

Kigelia owes its name to unusual weighty fruits that resemble in appearance sticks of liverwort or doctor's sausage. In tropical Africa, as well as in Madagascar, where she comes from, there is a different name - moroto, unusually meaning "fat tail of a sheep." One can only guess what African sheep are like? Unfortunately, despite such an appetizing name, the fruits of kigelia can only be found in the teeth of representatives of the tropical fauna, which have powerful jaws. Hippos, baboons and giraffes love to feast on wooden sausage. And parrots pick out the seeds of kigelia.

In its family of bignoniaceae, cirrus kigelia is the only species. The plant is a rather tall tree with a dense, spreading crown, from which elongated sausages up to 70 cm long hang on the stalks. Flowers bloom when the leaves are ripe or even earlier. Flowering occurs, as a rule, at night, which attracts sunbirds and bats, which perfectly pollinate plants. Although the large flowers of the tree, collected in bunches of three, are very attractive - on graceful pedicels, bright red or orange, tulip-shaped - their aroma is not pleasant.

Does not bloom in captivity

Humidity and warmth are important requirements for the sausage tree. If there are not enough of them, then the plant will quickly lose its freshness and external qualities. Caring for Kigelia is similar to caring for begonias. It is unacceptable that the temperature in the room falls below 20 degrees Celsius. Watering is necessary plentiful, except for the dormant period, which occurs at the peak of the summer heat - from +30 degrees. Then the kigelia seems to freeze for a while, then sheds its clothes, and closer to autumn it pleases with new increments.

In a greenhouse, with strictly controlled humidity and temperature, kigelia feels much more comfortable than in an ordinary apartment. But, if you wish, you can achieve good conditions for her. Then she noticeably gains in growth. It is rather difficult to wait for its flowering in a room setting, but its shiny, dark green, feathery leaves, which look like a walnut crown, look no less attractive.

Winter for the sausage tree is the time of the next vacation, when it is in a leafless, relaxed state. During this period, kigelia needs light and coolness. And in the spring, the plant starts up actively growing with renewed vigor.

Behind the seeds with an ax and a saw

The easiest way to get young Kigelia shoots is to plant seeds purchased online or in a specialized store. But it is quite difficult to get seeds of wooden sausage on your own: it will take strength and patience. The fruit, for a start, should dry well. After three months, the sausage becomes shriveled and very firm. It is then that she is ready for processing. Only you will not be able to open the fruit with your bare hands. A saw or an ax will come to the rescue. Sometimes the seeds germinate already inside the fruit.

Finished seeds are planted directly into the distribution boxes, without soaking. They germinate in a week. When the seedlings get stronger, they are transplanted into more spacious pots. For this, a soil mixture is used, which includes leaf, peat, turf soil and sand in equal proportions. Sausage babies need to be watered abundantly, provide them with warmth and good lighting. For them, it is better to choose a windowsill on the south side. As it grows, the sausage tree is transplanted into larger containers.

Has the gift of magic and healing

Kigelia in its homeland is widely used in everyday life and is very revered. Its fruits are associated with fertility and are used as amulets. And its wood is used to make canoes and red paint. Often, well-dried fruits are used as firewood, or household utensils are made from them. The seeds of the plant in some way compensate for the inedibility of the plant, because, despite the toxicity, they will not let them die of hunger. But before using them, they must be thoroughly fried. Shamans use wooden sausages to protect their homes.

Decoctions of plants treat pneumonia, diabetes, malaria, migraines, hemorrhoids, rheumatism, skin diseases, etc. Kigelia fruit juice can activate lactation. Modern cosmetologists have also found use of kigelia: thanks to the kigelin contained in it, which perfectly tones and rejuvenates the skin, plant extracts are added to creams, shampoos and other cosmetics.