Searsia crenata, the dune crow-berry

When the ripe drupes in their bluish black phase are not on the blue-fruit currant bushes in spring, it is hard to see why the plant bears also that name in everyday life. The shrub has a SA Tree List number (380.1) as it nominally is a tree.

This photo, taken in the De Hoop Reserve on the southern Cape coast, shows the characteristic leaf shapes with some new growth in August. The leaflet midribs appear whitish. Young stem growth at branch tips share the new leaf ruddy tint. This young foliage colouring makes the plant easy to spot in the coastal scrub of the plants habitat (Coates Palgrave, 2002).