Sausage Tree

Kigelia africana

“Grows 2-foot sausages. Bat-pollinated. Sacred across sub-Saharan Africa.”

The fruits are hard, woody, and shaped exactly like sausages — 2 feet long and up to 15 pounds each, hanging from long rope-like stalks. Do not stand under it when the wind picks up. The dark red flowers bloom at night and are pollinated by bats. Sacred in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and used medicinally for centuries. In Zone 10–11 it's a shade tree unlike anything else you've ever seen. The name is accurate.