Tetragonia fruticosa fruits and flowers

The kinkelbos (bend bush) or waterslaai (water salad), as Tetragonia fruticosa is commonly known in Afrikaans, tends to sprawl when growing alone or trail its straggly stems through surrounding vegetation of coastal scrub. Such stems can ramble widely and become 2 m long on mature plants in favourable coastal fynbos conditions.

The soft fleshy oblong or oval leaves have margins that are rolled under, leaving a prominent central spine visible on the lower side. The tiny yellow flowers are borne in terminal racemes or in the axils.

The fruits are winged samaras, similar to those of Combretum, Zygophyllum and Dodonaea. The seed is in the central knob between the wings of the fruit. The fruits turn black as they ripen (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Manning, 2007).