Searsia burchellii flowering

The flowers of Searsia burchellii are creamy yellow and small. The floral parts occur in fives. The calyx lobes overlap; they are not as long as the petals. Male and female flower parts grow in separate flowers. The female flower has staminodes, which are undeveloped, infertile stamens; the male ones lacking pistils. The flowers grow in loose terminal and axillary heads of up to 6 cm in length. As can be seen in the picture, the flowers are positioned among the leaves, not above them.

This shrub that has clearly received some rain already in May was photographed in the Karoo National Park near Beaufort West.

The branches of the Karoo kuni-bush were used by the arrow-shooting San hunters for making their bows. These people were still active in the arid north-western parts of South Africa and in Namibia in the nineteenth century; in a few spots even later. This area coincides with the plant’s distribution.

Indigenous people of Namaqualand also used stems of this tree to make pipes for whatever they were smoking (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; Van Wyk and Gericke, 2000).