Dichrostachys cinerea leaves

The leaves of Dichrostachys cinerea are sometimes fascicled on small spur-branches. Leaves even grow on the spines, which are merely hardened branchlets.

Leaves are bipinnate or twice-compound, similar to many African thorn trees species. The leaf size is variable from 4 to 19 pairs of pinnae, each in turn divided into 9 to 41 pairs of pinnules or leaflets. Leaflets are hairy when young and remain so on some trees, not all. There is a gland on the leaf petiole.

The photo was taken near the Tswaing Crater (Coates Palgrave, 2002; www.plantzafrica.com).