Kigelia africana (Lam.) Benth.

Medium or large sized tree up to 25 m tall. Leaves opposite or in whorls of 3, imparipinnate, crowded towards the tops of the branches; leaflets (1)2-5-jugate, sessile or subsessile, except the terminal ones with petiolule (0.7)1-4(6.5) cm, long; leaflet lamina 3.5-17.5(22.5) x 2.5-11 cm, ovate elliptic, obovate to rounded, apex obtuse, broadly tapering to rounded or retuse and not so often apiculate, base rounded to cuneate, slightly to profoundly asymmetric except in the terminal leaflet which is asymmetric, glabrous to more or less hairy in both surfaces sometimes more roughly hairy in the superior one, papyraceous to coriaceous, margins entire, serrate or toothed and sometimes conspicously wavy; lateral nerves (4)6-13 pairs impressed above, prominent below, venation laxly reticulate; petiole (2)3.5-14(16) cm long; rhachis 3-25(29) cm long, sulcate above, terete below. Flowers in pendulous very lax, terminal panicles, 30-100(150) cm long, longly pedunculate; pedicels 1-11(13.5) cm long, upcurved at the tip; bracts small lanceolate caducous. Calyx shortly tubular to campanulate, (1.7)2-4.3 cm long, irregularly 4-5 lobed with the lobes up to 1 cm long, ribbed, glabrous to sparsely puberlous outside, sometimes with irregularly scattered small glands. Corolla large, 6-12 cm long, widely cup-shaped, at first yellowish, later becoming reddish to purplish, streaked darker inside and outside, glabrous except sometimes at the point where the filaments become free; limb bilabiate, the superior lip bilobed, the lower one 3-lobed and recurved, lobes more or less rounded; corolla tube cylindrical at the base and suddenly widening and incurving upwards. Stamen-filament 3.5-6.5 cm long, adnate up to 1-2.5 cm from the base of the corolla tube; anthers 7-13 mm long; staminode rather large. Disk c. 1 cm in diam. 2-3 mm high, fleshy, irregularly lobed, sometimes almost truncate. Ovary 8-15 mm long, cylindrical; style 4-7(8) cm long, filiform. Fruit sausage-shaped up to 1 m long and 18 cm in diam., pendulous from a long peduncle, greyish-brown, lenticellate in the youth, massive, wood-walled, indehiscent. Seeds 10 x 7 mm numerous, wingless, embedded in a fibrous pulp; testa coriaceous; cotyledons folded.

A tropical plant. It is native to tropical Africa. It grows in warm subtropical and tropical areas. It grows in wet savannah. It is also found naturally along rivers in moist rainforest. It grows in Miombo woodland. It suits humid locations. It occurs between 1,100 and 3,000 metres altitude in Uganda. In Kenya it grows from sea level to 2,200 m altitude and in areas with rainfall between 500-1.500 mm per year. It cannot stand heavy frosts. It can grow in arid places. In Cairns Botanical Gardens. It suits hardiness zones 10-12.

CAUTION: Both the ripe and unripe fruit are poisonous. The fruit pulp and bark are used for making beer. The seeds are used as a famine food after baking. The fruit are used with sugar to make drinks. The flowers are used in a sauce. They are eaten as a vegetable. The leaves are used to make a palmnut soup eaten by lactating women.

Plants are grown from seed. Seeds germinate poorly and slowly. Plants grow naturally from seeds. Seeds should be sown fresh. It can be grown from large cuttings.