Diospyros lycioides subsp. lycioides

This specimen of Diospyros lycioides subsp. lycioides, the Karoo bluebush was photographed in the Eastern Cape on the Naude’s Nek Pass that connects the towns of Rhodes and Maclear near the southern end of the Drakensberg.

Note the shiny, hairless leaves that taper towards the tips or have rounded tips. The leaf surface is leathery, dull green to grey green with entire margins. The fruits are broadly ovoid, red, finely hairy or not, the conspicuous calyx persisting. The calyx has five recurving, pointed lobes up to 1 cm long (Coates Palgrave, 2002).