THE STRANGE SAUSAGE TREE

I am one of those strange people who collects found objects during our walks and travels. I like pods and have some that date back to our honeymoon in Portugal and Maderia as well as the rain forest in Costa Rico and the woods of North Carolina. I have beach glass from Lake Erie and Sorrento, Italy. Rocks that are pretty, rocks from the Great Wall and rocks that have fossil imprints. Fallen bird nests, seashells and discarded shells from crustaceans all share space on our bookshelves.
So its natural I suppose, that one of the first things I investigated when we arrived in Matoso
was a tree outside the cook house that appeared to have pods the size of giant sausages.

They turned out not to be pods at all but large fruits. When asked, the locals told me it’s a common tree in parts of eastern African and the author Alexander McCall Smith of "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency” fame mentions them in his book as being in Botswana as well. I was told that the fruit is harvested for its medicinal powers and is valued for treating babies with “poor blood”. I assume that means anemia and the reason it’s used for this purpose is because the flesh is blood red in color. When I looked the tree up in an online guide I learned that the fruit is used as a poultice on wounds but is poisonous when eaten. It’s also added to beer brews to aid with fermentation.

I thought it looked like a sausage tree and found that's what it's called in guidebooks too. The fruit grows to lengths up to 50 cm and hangs from long, remarkably strong stems. The flowers are quite beautiful too. They were in bloom when we arrived and looked like purple orchids to me. They are reported to last as long as 2 months.

I also read that some African tribes regard the sausage tree as holy. Important meetings are held under the shade of the Sausage Tree and objects cut from the timber are worshiped. But the locals told me to be careful when standing under the tree lest a sausage drop on my head and kill me! I won’t be bringing one of these giants home with me but I thought you’d enjoy seeing them.