Agathosma betulina upper stem

Older Agathosma betulina stems become brown, their bark hardening. There are dark longitudinal ridges down the stem, starting from the edges of the petiole bases of the leaves and established during stem elongation.

The translucent spots or oil gland dots on A. betulina leaves are not quite randomly scattered across the blades, forming various line patterns. On the margins though, these dots are rather neatly aligned in regular rows.

The oil gland dots are visible against sunlight and on the lower surfaces of the blades (Manning, 2007; iNaturalist).