Lycium oxycarpum big stem

This old Lycium oxycarpum stem developed deep, longitudinal fissuring in its grey to grey-brown bark. The photo was taken in a sandy streambed among karoid hills in the western Little Karoo near Barrydale.

Coppice shoots from a later era produced smoother, patchy but still uneven bark in creamy brown and grey.

The main stem may also have been erect initially, but things happen over a long life, particularly to plants growing in a riverbed: Older, low branches may be lost when floods, fires and other misfortunes strike in the life of a survivor that changes shape doing its thing for so many years (Coates Palgrave, 2002).