Adenium swazicum showing bare stems

The olive-green to greyish white upper stems of Adenium swazicum are bare. The leaves are clustered at stem-tips, i.e. they are deciduous, new growth appearing annually only at the tips.

The stems of the summer impala lily are smooth, apart from roughness at the nodes from where old leaves had fallen (Smith and Crouch, 2009; Onderstall, 1984).