Combretum mossambicense stem-tip

This Combretum mossambicense stem-tip displays the initial yellowish hairiness of young leaves, soon to decrease and gradually to be lost.

That is as far as the upper surfaces are concerned; on the lower surfaces the downy covering persists longer, as well as in the hairy domatia hidden in the nooks and leaf depressions where veins meet. These domatia consisting of hairy or leaf matter tufts are tiny comfort zones for little arthropods, mites or ants to take up residence… some plants do provide these domatium housing schemes for preferred tenants, making bush life more diverse and surprising.

The contrast between big and small veins is marked, the quilted effect produced by the net-veining renders these leaves very different from the leaves of many other Combretum species.

Leaf waviness is here accentuated to the level of contortions; like a potato slice crisping in boiling oil (Carr, 1988; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; Mannheimer and Curtis, (Eds.), 2009; iSpot; http://redlist.sanbi.org).