Streptocarpus vandeleurii leaf

The single, mostly prostrate Streptocarpus vandeleurii leaf is heart-shaped at least at its base, the tip often broken. The leaf becomes 30 cm long and sometimes about as wide.

Forward curving and parallel lateral vein lines, the midrib as well as other venation are all sunken on the upper surface. The fainter additional veins and net-veining cause a quilted look from the small, bulging patches surrounded by numerous veins, big and small. The mid-green blade is hairy on both sides, the margins bluntly toothed.

The unusually large, solitary leaf of this and some other Streptocarpus plants have earned them the Afrikaans common name of olifantsoor (elephant’s ear) (Van Wyk and Malan, iNaturalist; http://pza.sanbi.org).