Diospyros glabra retaining leftovers

After flowering, many black or brown Diospyros glabra fruits persist until early autumn, drying out among the leaves. Here they hang like tired Christmas decorations. The photo was taken in Fernkloof at the end of February.

The five narrow calyx lobes are raised above the fruit in pronounced fashion as if conceding defeat, while relinquishing their treasure, the ripening seeds. Those sepals once formed a neat star-shape behind flowers and later fruit. This brought the shrub one of its common names, fynbos star-apple.

For now, the seeds are still concealed in their devastated coverings, once the grandly red to purple, ovoid berries (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; iNaturalist).