- Location: West Bengal, India
- Temperature: 27 °C
- Weather: Survive all seasons, although it was raining today
- Length: 35 cm (although it can be small or big typically 10 to 40 cm length), girth:10 cm
- Weight: 1 kg (estimate)
- Appearance: Cylindrical in shape, the outer shell is very hard, color of shell is typically white to pale yellow(the dark patches is due to mud and dirt). It is really tough to crack the shell but the inside (I believe) is pulpy and fibrous but dry.
- Extra information: Not edible (never tried to eat), no smell emitted, colloquially called "monkey's club"(in native language), typically hangs on branches of trees in groups (typically 4 to 6 together)
-
$\begingroup$ is it the same as these white things in the foreground of the picture? thestatesman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/… $\endgroup$– JimNSep 1, 2020 at 8:23
-
1$\begingroup$ Could it be Kigelia? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kigelia#/media/… Native to africa, but seems to grow in a lot of places including mexico and india: inaturalist.ca/taxa/81491-Kigelia-africana/… $\endgroup$– JimNSep 1, 2020 at 8:43
-
$\begingroup$ @JimN you are almost certainly correct, make it an answer! $\endgroup$– Bryan HansonSep 2, 2020 at 20:29
1 Answer
It appears this is a Kigela (and commonly referred to as a "Sausage tree" in English).
It is - as you suspected - considered inedible and even poisonous in its fresh form (but apparently it can be dried or fermented). It has, as you said, a hard shell which can make this fruit usable as a container after it is hollowed-out.
The wikipedia article on this tree says it grows throughout tropical Africa, but looking at iNaturalist, it has been observed growing all over the world:
-
1$\begingroup$ It's nice to have another naturalist here. There are a few of us, but I haven't been around much lately to have seen your answers. Very nice! $\endgroup$ Apr 11, 2021 at 16:47