Searsia chirindensis

Searsia chirindensis, commonly the red currant or in Afrikaans the bostaaibos (bush sticky bush, sic), is a shrub or small tree, occasionally becoming large and reaching 23 m in height (SA Tree List No. 380).

The trifoliolate leaflets are large and ovate-lanceolate. They are dark green, hairless with conspicuous lateral veins on the wavy leaves. Leaflet apices end in hair-like sharp points.

The flowers are small, yellow-green, growing in terminal or axillary heads. The fruits are spherical and red when ripe.

The species distribution of S. chirindensis is along the south and east coasts of South Africa, from the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal to the eastern Lowveld parts of Mpumalanga and Limpopo, as well as in Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and further afield in central Africa.

The habitat includes variable seasonably moist regions, such as stony slopes, open woodland, forests, mountain scrub and riverine thicket. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Coates Palgrave, 2002; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).