Mundulea sericea subsp. sericea dark leaflets

The healthy Mundulea sericea subsp. sericea leaves seen here are dark green. The individual leaflets making up the leaves are framed in whitish, hairy margins.

Short-stalked, the leaflets emerge opposite or subopposite each other from the leaf rachis that would have been a leaf midrib, had this been a simple leaf blade. The whitish leaflet midribs and ascending, in-curving lateral veins have a delicate aspect to them, reminding of the ephemeral nature of leaf existence.

The lance-shape of the leaflet is rounded at the base and after tapering, also rounded at the tip. One would go far to find a more elegant shape for this composite type of leaf among trees of any forest (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Pooley, 1993).