enclos*ure

The sausage tree

December 17, 2011April 13, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ure2 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered a really nice blog about birds and ecology in Rwanda, Rwanda on the Wing, by Jared Cole* of Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village.

Sausage Tree fruits — By Jared Cole, via *Bird on the Wing*.

In an October post, Jared wrote about the sausage tree, one of the great trees of Africa, and about how few of them he has found during his time in Rwanda. He speculated that they have been replaced by non-natives like jacarandas, eucalytus, and bananas.

Jared and the students at the Youth Village tried to germinate sausage tree seeds from a piece of rotting fruit. However, out of about 100 seeds, only 4 seedlings sprouted, which they planted on their campus.

Last night, we attended the Christmas fête at the Belgian School of Kigali. While I was taking a few pictures with my husband’s phone, I turned around to find that the school had a sausage tree, growing right there in the concrete-tiled playground.

Kigelia africana (aka sausage tree and Kigelia pinnata, abssinica, aethiopica, and Bignonia africana) is the only species in the genus Kigella, which is a member of the family Bignoniacese. It is native to sub-Saharan Africa and is most easily recognized by its large, sausage-shaped fruit. Its flowers are large and maroon-colored.

kigelafricfl — Via http://www.plantzafrica.com

The fruits are toxic to humans, but slices are sometimes added to beer to aid fermentation. They are also used in traditional medicines and in some commercially produced skin lotions. They may have anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties. According to Kew Garden’s website, the trees are sacred to some communities; the Luo and Lukaya peoples of Kenya bury a fruit “to symbolize the body of a lost person believed to be dead.”

All the websites I consulted warned against camping or parking under a Kigelia; the fruits can weigh up to 26 lbs. or 12 kgs.

Sausage tree seeds can have a poor germination rate, so Jared’s experience was not unusual. A few sites recommend planting the seeds in river sand.

To return to the Ecole Belge and its Christmas fête — we were lured there by the promise of imported goodies from Belgium, including oysters and foie gras. There were also boudin blanc sausages, Liege waffles, and Belgian beer.

The seniors were holding a plant sale to support their class trip.

I bought some dramatically blotched coleus. . .

And some Tree Tomato (or Tamarillo) jam made by Afrique en Marche. They help the handicapped obtain prostheses.

*Jared is no longer in Rwanda, but you can read about his continuing adventures in birding at his blog, Earth on the Wing.

Bloom Day in December

December 15, 2011April 13, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ure5 Comments

Today, I took a closer look at my Abutilon or Chinese Lantern bushes.

yellow closeup — Closeup of yellow Abutilon.

Compared to many of the other tropical or semitropical plants in the garden, the Abutilon are rather quiet. The flowers are neat and smallish and hang down like bells.

good bush — Abutilon are also sometimes called Flowering Maples because of their leaves.

abutilon closeup — This variety has white blooms with pink veins.

orange bush — A showier bush with reddish-orange blooms.

orange closeup copy — A reddish-orange bloom.

white abutilon closeup — A white flowered Abutilon.

This bush has variegated leaves and is rather overshadowed by a pink Brugmansia or Angel’s Trumpet.

datura and varigated abutilon — An Abutilon with variegated leaves beside a Brugmansia.

coral abutilon varigated — A coral bloom. Another name for the bush is Chinese Bell Flower.

coral closeup — Closeup of a coral flower.

I think my bushes are Abutilon x hybridum, descended from South American varieties and brought here by expats. Rwanda has one native variety, Abutilon bidentatum Hochst. ex A. Rich., which is not very showy.

Another species, Abutilon longicuspe, with purple flowers, is also native to east and central Africa.

Please visit May Dreams Gardens for more Bloom Day postings (the 15th of every month).

Abutilon longicuspe flower — Abutilon longicuspe. Photo via http://database.prota.org.

On the road

December 11, 2011April 13, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ure6 Comments

The farm in yesterday’s post overlooks the Nyakabingo tungsten mine, located about 10 kms. north of Kigali.

The mine was the first stop on a two-day bus trip organized by the Foreign Ministry for diplomats. We felt a little like we were on a school field trip — only one with a police escort and a press van.

While we were at Nyakabingo, I turned down the invitation to see the mine from underground and instead photographed it from an upper road.

Looking down to the mine — Paths and steps descending the hillside of the mine. About 700 people work there removing tungsten, a chemical element used in incandescent light bulb filaments, x-ray tubes, and superalloys.

The afternoon itinerary included a stop at the Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge.

The Lodge is one of two “swishy” (as Bradt’s Travel Guide puts it) places to stay in the vicinity of the Parc National des Volcans and the mountain gorillas. The other one — the Virunga Safari Lodge — we toured last month. Both cost around $500 to $600 per night per person.

Silverback, path to cabins — Paths to the five cottages, with the volcano in the background.

Sabyinyo has the advantage of being only 10 minutes drive from the entrance to the park headquarters. Like Virunga, it offers accommodation in individual cottages.

Cabin — A Sabyinyo cottage. The lodge levies a $58 per person per night community fee, and the community also receives a 17% cut of the lodge’s profits.

Also like Virunga Safari Lodge, the landscaping is kept simple so as not to compete with the gorgeous views.

View from cabin fr — The view from a cottage window.

Silverback view — One of the views at Sabyinyo, somewhat obscured by clouds.

Path 2, bamboo — A path through the bamboo.

Main bldg patio — Patio at the entrance to the main building.

Large fern — A large fern by the patio steps.

Fern near main bldg — Another very large fern near the main building.

fauna:flora — Ferns and other wild plants along the path.

wildflowers — Impatiens native to Rwanda.

Water retention pool — The water retention pool.

Sm stream gorge with bamboo, eucalytus — Small stream gorge filled with bamboo and eucalyptus.

We ended our day in the village of Susa, largely made up of 96 homes built with the assistance of the Rwandan government. The people who live there include Genocide survivors, Batwa (pygmys), and Rwandans formerly living in exile in Tanzania.

Village watertanks — Village homes with tanks that capture rainwater runoff from the roofs.

As the light began to fade, we were greeted by dancers.

Gardening at an angle

December 10, 2011April 13, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ure4 Comments

If you think your garden has some challenges with slope, consider this picture. This is quite a typical Rwandan farm. I put it at about 45 degrees.

Rwandan farm 3 — Rulindo District farm. Click photo to enlarge.

The photo below is another view — rather hazy, I’m afraid — of the most common Rwandan landscape type, a patchwork of small farms on a hillside. This is in the northwest, in Rubavu District.