Cliffortia ruscifolia var. ruscifolia male flowers

The male flowers of Cliffortia ruscifolia var. ruscifolia have flat-topped clusters of stamens in purplish colours that change with age, grown on erect filaments. The broad, recurving sepals form the flower cup around the filament bases.

The densely overlapping leaves on the short side-branches sometimes have whitish longitudinal bands along the leaf centre, not converging at the tip. The leaf-tip spine is long and thin. Old stem parts are leafless (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bean and Johns, 2005; Le Roux, et al, 2005).