Turquoise

This small shrub grows up to 1 foot (30.5 cm) tall and lives for around 32 years. It is very resistant to disease and destructive insect infestation.

It has dozens of stocky, wonky stems covered in cracked, black bark, and the wood inside is pine-coloured.

The branches trail down towards the ground with thousands of twigs that and are covered with sparse amounts of huge, very thin, leaves with toothed edges. The leaves themselves are turquoise on the edges and green at the center, tough and fuzzy.

In early spring it produces hundreds of tiny, beige blossoms with fan-like petals with a trumpet-shaped floral cup. They detach easily and have a strong scent that smells like rotting meat.

In late winter small fan-like fruits ripen. The sticky bronze skin is thick and inedible, and the soft crimson flesh is sour and savoury and syrupy. The caramel seeds are large and are scattered throughout the fruit.