Vangueria infausta subsp. infausta fruit among the leaves

The Vangueria infausta subsp. infausta fruit is almost spherical. Initially green, it later becomes yellowish to brown, crowned by a circular scar at its tip, left by the calyx. The fruits grow solitary or in pairs.

Edible, but a matter of taste, while competing insect activity in the fruits may be more off-putting than their taste. Still, the fruit is popular with many humans, animals and birds that enjoy them from midsummer to mid-autumn.

The greenish white flowers that preceded these fruits are small, only about 6 mm in diameter and 4 mm long. They occur in branched heads from leaf axils in spring, sometimes before the new leaves are developed, otherwise among or below the leaves. The corollas fall early.

The stems are knobbly with smooth bark coloured pale grey, yellowish grey or pinkish grey. On old stems the bark tends to become rough and peeling, the stems gnarled. Young branchlets are hairy, pale and ridged, sprouting in opposite pairs. The wood is rarely used (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002).