Diospyros glabra

Diospyros glabra, the fynbos star-apple and in Afrikaans the kraaibessie (little crow bush), is a small, evergreen tree or erect shrub that reaches 2 m in height, occasionally 5 m (SA Tree List No. 603.1). The plant resprouts after fire. The reddish colour of the faintly hairy new branchlets can be seen in the picture. Older bark is dark grey and mottled.

The simple leaves are spirally arranged, small, short-stalked and elliptic. Leaf colour is dark green above, paler below. Both surfaces are glossy, the texture leathery.

The species distribution is from the far southwest of the Northern Cape around Nieuwoudtville through the Western Cape to the Cape Peninsula and eastwards as far as the Little Karoo and into the west of the Eastern Cape as far as Kareedouw. 

The habitat is fynbos slopes and forest margins. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Coates Palgrave, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).