Zygophyllum simplex leaves and flowers

The succulent, opposite leaves of Zygophyllum simplex are globose, elliptoid or cylindrical with rounded tips. They vary in colour from pale green to yellow green, yellow and sometimes red or maroon. There are small, pointed stipules present at the leaf bases.

The small yellow flowers grow solitary from leaf axils. The five short, rounded sepals  form a shallow yellow bowl. Inside them the spoon-shaped, long-clawed, yellow petals protrude far, angled below the stamens. The ten yellow stamens angle up and out from the base of the five-lobed, superior ovary. The filaments are long and straight, the anthers small and pale in the photo. The plant flowers all year round whenever there has been rain.

The ovary swells into an elaborately five-lobed fruit that splits into its segments when ripe and dry (Smith, et al, 2017; Le Roux, et al, 2005; Eliovson, 1990; iNaturalist).