Lycium hirsutum leaves and a spine

The leaves of Lycium hirsutum grow in fascicles, sometimes solitary on short spur-shoots spaced upon the stems. The leaf shape is narrowly lanceolate to oblanceolate, the leaf-tip variably rounded or pointed and the base tapering into the petiole that is only sometimes present. The leaf margins are entire. Leaf dimensions are 18 mm by 5 mm.

The leaves are thinly textured and covered in short hairs, the only Lycium in southern Africa to be hairy. The Latin word, hirsutum, means hairy or shaggy. The leaves exude a fetid smell when crushed (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Shearing and Van Heerden, 2008; iSpot).