Cadaba aphylla ("Swartstorm") is one of the many species in the genus Cadaba. It is indigenous to southern Africa.
It grows as a straggly, perennial shrub or small tree, virgate, much-branched, dark green, often with purple bloom, and usually leafless, and may reach 2 meters in height. Its branches are somewhat succulent and frequently spine-tipped. Leaves of some 10 x 2 mm are found on seedlings and young branchlets.
Its deep-red flowers (rarely yellow) in axillary clusters have prominently exserted stamens, making this a colourful plant in summer. Fruits are some 90 mm in length, green at first, turning a rusty brown when mature, and covered in sticky hairs. A sticky orange pulp covers the small black seeds.[1] [2]
This species may occur in dry bushveld or semidesert conditions from tropical Africa to Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa. At its southern extent, it occurs in clay-rich soils in the Little Karoo and Overberg regions, as far south-west as the town of Montagu.[4]