Ziziphus rivularis, false buffalo-thorn flowers

The small, bisexual flowers of Ziziphus rivularis grow in small clusters called cymes but mostly only in pairs or solitary from leaf axils; each separately stalked.

The flowers are star-shaped and pale yellow to greenish yellow. Five triangular petals (or maybe sepals in the absence of petals) spread around the shiny green flower centre. Their five lobes are keeled on the inside. A flower becomes 4 mm in diameter.

The five stamens spread from below the shiny cone-shaped disc that envelops the flowers superior ovary. The thick-based filaments emerge from the gaps between the petals or sepals. Flowering happens late in spring or early in summer.

The fruit is a spherical drupe, hard, shiny and hairless, becoming yellow to brown when ripe. It has a thin fleshy, outer layer below the skin. One triangular seed is borne, while usually only one fruit develops per leaf axil. It is about 7 mm in diameter (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; Codd, 1951).