Zygophyllum foetidum smooth, green fruit

When the Zygophyllum foetidum fruit is young, still morphing from ovary shape to the ribbed, mature fruit, it is smooth and green with faint colour lines hinting at the changes to come.

The dry sepals are at the time of the photo already strongly flexed back. The style at the other end of the fruit is still straight, appearing purposeful but isn’t. A few anthers are still hanging in on the side, hardly as tall as the fruit and fading (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2009).