Sausage tree

Fruits weighing several kilograms dangle on long cords from the sausage tree’s branches – one of the strangest sights of the savanna.

A tree of the bignonia family, growing to about 20 m, with a broad crown and pinnate leaves. Large, dark red, bell-shaped flowers hang on long, cord-like stalks; they open at night, give off an unpleasant smell and are pollinated by bats. The fruits look like giant sausages – up to 60 cm long and weighing 5–10 kg. They are inedible raw but are used in folk medicine and in cosmetics.

Significance in the country

In Kenya the sausage tree grows along the rivers of the Maasai Mara, among other places, where safari tourists love to photograph it. The Kikuyu call its fruit muratina and add it to the traditional beer of the same name, made from honey or sugarcane.

Where it grows

On savannas and in riverine forests in the wetter parts of the country – along the Mara and Talek rivers, on the coast, in the Eastern and Central Provinces and by Lake Victoria.

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