Searsia longispina leaves

The leaves of Searsia longispina are trifoliolate, crowded on short, pale, spine-tipped side-branchlets. They have petioles of up to 1,5 cm that are finely channelled or winged, but no petiolules on the leaflets.

The leaflets are narrowly obovate to oblanceolate with the tips obtusely tapering, rounded or notched, sometimes with a hairy protrusion at the end, a mucro. The base of the leaflet tapers, the margins entire and rolled under. The pale midrib is slightly ridged upon both surfaces, the ascending lateral veins and some net-veining faint but visible. The flat, hairless blades are dull dark green or grey-green, sometimes bright or yellowish green and shiny from a resinous exudate.

The terminal leaflet is from 1 cm to 4 cm long and from 0,5 cm to 2 cm wide; the lateral ones slightly smaller (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; iSpot).