At the end of the flowering phase only few Combretum kraussii florets still remain on the spikes in picture. Flowering was late on this tree growing in the Pretoria National Botanical Garden, far to the west of the tree’s natural distribution in the Lowveld parts of Mpumalanga and Limpopo, also southwards on the east coast of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Maybe it lacked the motivational higher temperatures during spring? That is when the axillary heads become elongated, bearing their creamy white flowers in habitat, even starting in late winter. Up to 50 tiny flowers may make up one spike.

Leaf margins are turned down in the photo; distinct points are seen at the leaf tips. Ascending lateral veins are visible on both leaf surfaces, prominent on the lower one, the net-veining clearer upon the dark upper surfaces (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997).