Kigelia africana fruit

The Kigelia africana fruit hangs rigidly down on its long peduncle due to the compelling mass of the fruit body. The asymmetry in the fruit shape is usual but not standard. Perfect symmetry often approximated in cucumbers and gourds is rare or never found in the Kigelia sausages. Maybe each fruit is shaped uniquely, a bit like human fingerprints. These fruit shapes vary because of factors like the development history of the particular ovary, how the peduncle supports the heavy fruit, and how environmental factors impacted on fruit expansion.

Whoever singles out a sausage tree has usually noticed at least one fruit, if not an animal like a snake in the branches (Coates Palgrave, 2002; iNaturalist).