Erythrina afra leaves

Foliage of the deciduous Erythrina afra tree produces a dense summer canopy after its spring flowering season.

The trifoliolate leaf structure comprises the (bigger) terminal leaflet flanked by the lateral pair that lack prickles. Leaflet shape is broadly ovate or egg-shaped to elliptic. There are glands present where the leaflets join the leaf rachis. The stipules at the petiole base are present for only a brief period.

Leaves of this species closely resemble those of E. lysistemon that partly overlaps its Eastern Cape coastal distribution range (Coates Palgrave, 2002; iNaturalist; https://pza.sanbi.org).