Searsia crenata

Searsia crenata, the blue-fruit currant or duinekraaibessie in Afrikaans, is a small evergreen tree or more commonly a much branched and dense shrub. It is cultivated as a garden shrub for its attractive foliage.

The leaves are trifoliolate, the hallmark of trees of this genus that was until recently known as Rhus. The leaflets are obovate, dark to bright green when mature, reddish sometimes with yellow and shiny when young as in the picture. The terminal leaflet is slightly larger than the lateral ones; the midrib reddish brown. The margins are scalloped along the upper third of the leaflet, with the edges rolled under and the base tapering.

The autumn flowers grow in terminal clusters. They are small and white to cream in colour. The fruits are thinly fleshy, spherical drupes. They become bluish as they ripen in spring.

The species is distributed coastally in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and southern KwaZulu-Natal. The habitat is coastal dunes and adjacent inland dunes. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; Coates Palgrave, 2002; www.wildcard.co.za; http://redlist.sanbi.org).