Pappea capensis fruits losing skin

The ripe fruits of Pappea capensis have burst open on this female tree, exposing their shiny red, jelly-like flesh still concealing the black seeds.

The pale green, velvety fruit skins in picture, paler than the leaves are now wavy or wrinkled while still coarsely hairy. The skins only cover some back parts of the fruits beckoning to their usually eager consumers. The Afrikaans common name, doppruim (skin plum), refers to this feature.

The leaves of this mature tree are small, the pale grey stems gnarled where leaves have dropped off (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; Pooley, 1993; iNaturalist).