Gymnosporia senegalensis spines

Commonly called the red spikethorn, Gymnosporia senegalensis does have spines to show or experienced more intensely in unpleasant fashion when the observer goes to close. These straight, sharp, sturdy spines reach 7 cm in length.

The plant is not always armed with spines or evenly so. Spines may develop into short, spine-tipped side-branches bearing leaves (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002).