Cryptolepis oblongifolia

The flowers of Cryptolepis oblongifolia grow in small axillary clusters. The ones in picture are creamy yellow. They may also be whiter or yellower. The corolla tube is largely covered by supporting sepals, pale green with whitish margins and tapering to acute tips that end in slight rounding.

The five oblong petals have curiously asymmetric marginal shapes, irregularly pointy and dissimilar. The five cream coloured anthers with rounded tips in the throat of the flower lean inwards to meet each other in the centre. Flowering comes in summer.

The fruits grow in the form of paired follicles, more or less joined at the base. The follicles resemble the horns of some small local antelopes, earning the plant the Afrikaans common name of bokhorings. When the follicles split, the seeds with hairy tufts are released upon the wind for dispersal (Van Wyk and Malan, 1997).