Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Kigelia africana, Bignoniaceae,

After much surfing and the lies being told yet again by the egyptians.
the tree I was told was a ficus benghalensis. It is the , Bignoniaceae, sausage tree.

I was in Cairo zoo 7/8/09 almost every tree in the park had its I d tag removed with the exception of the tree I wanted, so I took a photo of the tag and tree, it is quite rare but the Luxor agriculture guys were adamant this was the ficus benghalensis ( Banyon tree)
Kigelia africana, Bignoniaceae, sausage tree. Notice the large, showy flowers, the 5-lobed calyx and corolla, and the didynamous stamens. The corollas are leathery, which resists shredding by the clawed wings of bats that visit and pollinate this species in its native habitat in tropical west Africa. The flowers and the large, sausage-like indehiscent fruits that develop from them hang on long stems below and away from the limbs of the tree. Although not edible, the fruits are used in Africa as an external medication.http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/FACULTY/CARR/bignoni.htm

The ficus benghalensis tree is seen all over the place there is an avenue of this tree along the Nile corneesh near the British embassy" Ok" its similar but all the ficus has fruit in between the leaves on the stem. that is why I went to the bother of finding out what this tree was in Luxor.


Posted by Picasa





No comments:

Post a Comment