Ziziphus mucronata subsp. mucronata flowers into fruits

Flowers are busily morphing into small green fruit on this Ziziphus mucronata subsp. mucronata stem tip. The flowers are about 4 mm in diameter.

The mature fruit, an almost spherical drupe carrying a single seed, becomes from 1,2 cm to 2 cm in diameter, occasionally even larger. It has a leathery, shiny surface coloured russet-red or red-brown.

The hard seed is covered in a thin layer of meal-like pulp that is rather dry, but slightly sweet and edible. The fruit may remain on the tree long after the leaves that fall late in winter. Rats hoard them for winter food and people have used the seeds as rosary beads.

Not all consumers stick to nectar. This tree’s leaves are browsed by game and insects; not quite the bigger plan of the species, but one’s supply chain does require maintenance, even nurturing (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Pooley, 1993).