Shiny surfaces are present on these young, but limp Rothmannia capensis leaves in midsummer; maybe needing some rain.

The leaf texture of this tree is leathery, the colour dark to bright green above, paler below. Leaves are often flat and straight, but may also be wavy. Hairless on mature trees, the leaves of young trees are velvety from a pale hairy covering.

Distinct pit-domatia, hair-filled openings on the lower surface, are visible as bulges on upper leaf surfaces, positioned where the bigger lateral veins branch from the midrib. The pale midrib protrudes, the lateral veins ascend to the margins and curve in without reaching them, joining the next forward one or branching. Net-veining in variable magnitudes is also visible here (Coates Palgrave, 2002).