Tetragonia sarcophylla

Tetragonia sarcophylla has elliptic leaves that appear oblong as the side margins are strongly rolled under. The leaf sometimes displays slight upward curvature towards the tips as can be seen in the picture. The fleshy leaf texture is reflected in the specific name of sarcophylla. The leaf surface shows the shine of water cells.

The flowers are yellow, four-petalled with prominent stamen clusters. They appear from winter to early spring. This flowering plant was photographed in August in Worcester.

The stem is woody near the base and repeatedly branched. Stem colour is whitish on older stems, reddish on the younger ones. The fruit is small, four-winged, occasionally three-winged. It turns black as it matures on the plant (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok; Shearing and Van Heerden, 2008).