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Kigelia africana

Bologna Sausage Tree · Fetishbean · German Sausage Tree · Sausage Tree

Family BignoniaceaeGenus Kigelia

A broad spreading tree hung with long sausage-shaped fruits, standing alone in dry savanna
The whole plantBjørn Christian TørrissenCC BY-SA 3.0

About the plant

What it is and where it grows — not part of any germination protocol.

Habit
treePlants of the World Online
Habit
Perennial, TreePLANTS Database
Native range
Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon and elsewhereGBIF Backbone Taxonomy

Toxicity is noted only where a source states it. No note here is not a finding of safety.

Sources: Plants of the World Online — Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; PLANTS Database — USDA NRCS; GBIF Backbone Taxonomy — Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Worth knowing

  • The sausage tree: its fruit grows up to 60 cm long and weighs 5 to 10 kg. The flowers give off a strong, unpleasant scent at night, and bats pollinate them as they drink the nectar. Wikipedia: Kigelia

Protocol

DerivedN. C. Deno, 1996

Difficulty High Rated by us, not by the source.

  1. Sow and cover

    Temperature: 70°F 21°C

No stated waiting before sowing. Then 21 days to germinate.

17% germination in 21 days.

Seed Germination Theory and Practice, 1st Supplement — N. C. Deno, 1996 · 1st Supplement, Kigelia p. 51Public domain
Show the original text
Kigelia (Bignoniaceae). K. pinnata germ. 3/18 in 3rd w at 70 with or without GA-3 (KR). Other GA's did not improve the percent germination.
Seed Germination Theory and Practice, 1st Supplement, 1st Supplement, Kigelia p. 51. Quoted exactly. Every value on this card comes from this record, except the difficulty rating, which is ours; the step names come from a fixed list.

How each step is done, in Deno’s words, and what Verified and Derived mean.

Germination trials

Readers’ own records of sowing this species, published after review. Share your trial · All trials

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