Aspalathus spinosa subsp. spinosa leaves

The soft, trifoliolate leaves of Aspalathus spinosa subsp. spinosa grow alternate and stalkless, also without stipules, in small clusters or solitary up the younger stems. The leaflets are long, thin and linear, slightly flattened to cylindrical, straight or variably curved, their tips blunt to pointed.

The variously coloured leaflet surfaces in shades of grey-green to bright green are faintly hairy, occasionally hairless. Leaf dimensions are 2 mm to 20 mm long and 0,4 mm to 1 mm wide (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Pooley, 1998; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://www.worldfloraonline.org).