Canthium inerme spiny stems

Thin Canthium inerme branches may have spines as seen here. The spines, long, hard, opposite and slightly recurving, remain upon the tree much longer than the leaves, but will also disappear as the branches grow.

The rate at which the stem surfaces become rough and fissured may be observed here by comparing the branches of increasing thickness.

Growing solitary or at the forest margin, the tree would possibly display some small, leafy twigs low down, but in mid-forest all the energy for new growth is focused upon the upper parts of the forest canopy where photosynthesis feeds the tree (Coates Palgrave, 2002).