Lycium oxycarpum young branchlets

This young Lycium oxycarpum stem still has purple colouring apart from a covering of scattered whitish lenticels. The stem colour and lenticels extend to the short spur-branchlets where a few leaves are present, here not in whorls.

Young branches of this shrub (sometimes tree) may also be creamy brown in colour. Thorns and spur-branchlets blur into one as leaves grow on both and spiny tips as well.

The photo is of a Little Karoo plant near Oudtshoorn, taken in August (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Coates Palgrave, 2002).