Carissa bispinosa leaves

Carissa bispinosa may sometimes bear large white to slightly pinkish flowers in forest understoreys of KwaZulu-Natal. Previously known as C. wyliei, these scrambling plants extend the range of intraspecies appearances now found in C. bispinosa.

The simple leaves are opposite on petioles only up to 3 mm long. Leaf shape is ovate; the broadly tapering tip has an added bristle, a rounded base and entire margins. Leaf colour is dull to glossy green, sometimes bluish green above and paler below. The leaf texture is leathery, the pale midrib conspicuous, but the ascending lateral veins that curve in to join the next (upper) one rather than reaching the margins, are indistinct. Leaf dimensions are up to 10 cm long and 4,5 cm wide.

The sharp little spines, forked as is common among Carissa species, are part of forest obstacles interfering with human and animal movement among the trees. Sometimes spineless, the bushes may also be kind to passersby, but being without spines does not mean lacking backbone (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Pooley, 1993).