Kigelia africana stem-tip

The cream-coloured petioles and rachises of Kigelia africana compound leaves dominate in leaf appearance, emphasising the natural rigidity in leaflets that resist wind and touch. The stem-tip leaf configuration of the photo adds complexity to the normal “opposite or whorls of three” leaf arrangement.

The leaflet margins as well as the leaflets in unison fold in slightly in their overall orientation. In picture a terminal leaflet is lighter green than its adjacent laterals, all of them bigger than the lowermost leaflets on the rachis (Coates Palgrave, 2002; iNaturalist).