Species
+

Kigelia africana (Lam.) Benth.

Bologna Sausage Tree, Fetishbean, German Sausage Tree, German-Sausage Tree

Climate known 70 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Kigelia is a genus of flowering plants in the trumpet vine family Bignoniaceae. The genus consists of only one species, Kigelia africana, syn. Kigelia pinnata, which occurs throughout tropical Africa and is cultivated elsewhere in the tropics.

Text from Wikipedia, “Kigelia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Kigelia

Kigelia is a genus of flowering plants in the trumpet vine family Bignoniaceae. The genus consists of only one species, Kigelia africana, syn. Kigelia pinnata, which occurs throughout tropical Africa and is cultivated elsewhere in the tropics.

Text from Wikipedia, “Kigelia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Bignoniaceae
Described by
(Lam.) Benth.
Native to
Benin, Burkina, Gambia, The +37
Wild records
1192 in range· 665 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Jan, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
771mm/yr
11 wet months · peak Dec 90 mm (CHELSA)
Light
28–38DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to November in the northern hemisphere (November to May at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 771 mm a year, wettest December at 90 mm, driest July at 23 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 38 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 13.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Kigelia ikbaliae DeWild.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to November in the northern hemisphere (November to May at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (582 mm of 771 mm) falls in November to May, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.6 °C against a yearly mean of 23.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to November.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 771 mm a year, wettest December at 90 mm, driest July at 23 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

771 mm a year at the habitat, 582 mm of it November to May. Wettest month December at 90 mm, driest July at 23 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 529 mm to 1757 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 38 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 38 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 13.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 13.2 °C, the absolute minimum 10.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 15.3 °C in July (across the envelope cells 8.9 °C to 22.6 °C), warmest day 30.0 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 60% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 26 °C in Jul to 30 °C in Jan; mean night from 15 °C in Jul to 21 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 771 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 889 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 10.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.9 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°35.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)10.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 28–38RH 57–60 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 889 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C30 / 26–3430 / 26–3630 / 26–3629 / 24–3527 / 23–3326 / 22–3126 / 21–2927 / 22–2929 / 24–3229 / 25–3430 / 25–3430 / 25–34
Night °C20 / 16–2321 / 16–2421 / 16–2519 / 15–2518 / 13–2416 / 10–2415 / 9–2316 / 11–2217 / 13–2320 / 15–2320 / 15–2320 / 16–23
Rain mm88 / 2–19984 / 5–17786 / 24–17780 / 20–21273 / 3–20128 / 1–22023 / 0–21529 / 0–26542 / 2–22667 / 16–22281 / 8–16490 / 2–180
DLI38 / 34–4138 / 34–4236 / 32–4235 / 28–3932 / 25–3730 / 23–3628 / 23–3430 / 24–3834 / 27–4336 / 29–4537 / 30–4437 / 31–42
RH %59 / 39–6659 / 40–6659 / 48–6760 / 49–6859 / 47–6957 / 47–6957 / 46–6958 / 43–7058 / 41–7058 / 44–7058 / 49–6859 / 42–66

Each figure is the median across the 889 grid cells holding the 1153 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1868:4316 (-3.425, 35.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 889 distinct grid cells holding the 1153 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1868:4316 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -3.50_35.625, lapse-corrected -586 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 977 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBenin, Burkina, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Caprivi Strip, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces· introduced: Assam, Mexico Southwest, Ecuador
Kew's description“tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-25.063, 31.365 · in the densest population, 312 records (26% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1192 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 665 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4755 km away. 397 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 39 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1192 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Kigelia africanaKigelia africanaKigelia africanaKigelia africanaKigelia africanaKigelia africanaKigelia africanaKigelia africana

Photographs: (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (3); (c) Wynand Uys, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Diogo Luiz, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Seig, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Kigelia africana, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Antifungal and antibacterial activities of the ethanolic and aqueous extract of Kigelia africana (Bignoniaceae) stem bark
Omonkhelin J Owolabi, Eric K. I. Omogbai, Osahon Obasuyi (2007) · AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
Study on a Novel natural cellulosic fiber from Kigelia africana fruit: Characterization and analysis
R. Siva, T.N. Valarmathi, K. Palanikumar, Antony V. Samrot (2020) · Carbohydrate Polymers
Extraction and characterisation of natural cellulose fibers from Kigelia africana
Manikandan Ilangovan, Vijaykumar Guna, B. Prajwal, Qiuran Jiang (2020) · Carbohydrate Polymers
Anti-inflammatory Activity of Verminoside from Kigelia africana and Evaluation of Cutaneous Irritation in Cell Cultures and Reconstituted Human Epidermis
Patrizia Picerno, Giuseppina Autore, Stefania Marzocco, Marisa Méloni (2005) · Journal of Natural Products
Antifungal and antibacterial activity of seven traditionally used South African plant species active against Candida albicans
L.J. Shai, Lyndy J. McGaw, Peter Masoko, J.N. Eloff (2008) · South African Journal of Botany
Antibacterial activity and isolation of active compounds from fruit of the traditional African medicinal tree Kigelia africana
Olwen M. Grace, M.E. Light, K.L. Lindsey, Dulcie A. Mulholland (2002) · South African Journal of Botany
Antimicrobial, Antioxidant, and Wound Healing Properties ofKigelia africana(Lam.) Beneth. andStrophanthus hispidusDC.
Christian Agyare, Anita Serwaa Dwobeng, Nicholas Agyepong, Yaw Duah Boakye (2013) · Advances in Pharmacological Sciences
Kigelia africana (Lam.) Benth. (Sausage tree): Phytochemistry and pharmacological review of a quintessential African traditional medicinal plant
Idris Bello, Mustapha W. Shehu, Mustapha Musa, Mohd Zaini Asmawi (2016) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
An examination of the antibacterial, antifungal, anti-Giardial and anticancer properties of Kigelia africana fruit extracts
Alexander Arkhipov, Joseph Sirdaarta, Paran Rayan, Mc Donnell P A (2014) · Pharmacognosy Communications
Brine Shrimp Toxicity Evaluation Of Some Tanzanian Plants Used Traditionally For The Treatment Of Fungal Infections
Mainen J. Moshi, CJ Van den Beukel, OJM Hamza, ZH Mbwambo (2008) · African Journal of Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicines
Cyclooxygenase inhibition and antimycobacterial effects of extracts from Sudanese medicinal plants
I.M.S. Eldeen, J. Van Staden (2008) · South African Journal of Botany

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 147 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.