Ekebergia capensis fruit

The fruit of Ekebergia capensis, in Afrikaans essenhout, is a fleshy, sub-globose drupe, seen here drooping in loose clusters. Sub-globose means it deviates slightly from being spherical. Fruit colour progressing from pale greenish yellow to orange, later bright red, can be observed in the photo that was taken in the Kruger National Park during January. Each fruit shows a small notch, an indentation at its tip. Drupe diameter is 1,5 cm. The fruit contains up to four seeds.

The sexes occur on separate trees in this dioecious species; this being a fruit-bearing, female tree (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997).