Indigo

This average-sized shrub grows up to 3 feet (91.4 cm) tall and lives for around 12 years. It is very resistant to disease and destructive insect infestation.

It has several stocky, crooked stems covered in thick, cracked, brown-green speckled bark, and the wood inside is black with white speckles.

The branches are long and slender with dozens of twigs that and are covered with handfuls of small, pleated, leaves with smooth edges. The leaves themselves are either drab red or black, with olive edges, frail and sticky.

In early spring it produces a handful of small, indigo blossoms with 4 oval-shaped shaped petals. They are very delicate and have an intense scent that smells like varnish.

In late autumn tiny oval fruits ripen. The leathery turquoise skin is stretchy and inedible, and the slightly crunchy sky blue flesh is bitter and very dry. The orange seed is tiny and sits at the end of the fruit.