Coppervine

This short shrub grows up to 1 foot (30.5 cm) tall and lives for around 45 years. It is very susceptible to disease and insect infestation.

It has many long and flexible, crooked stems covered in thick, silky, copper-coloured bark, and the wood inside is dark brown.

The branches are very short, thin and wispy with thousands of twigs that and are covered with small amounts of large, slender, pointed, leaves with smooth edges. The leaves themselves are solid olive with silver zig-zags, flimsy and crispy.

In late summer it produces handfuls of small, cream blossoms with wide petals with a trumpet-shaped floral cup. They are hardy and have a delicate scent that smells like freshly washed clothes.

In mid-autumn very large circular fruits ripen. The waxy aquamarine skin is thin and inedible, and the very soft cyan flesh is sweet and sour and syrupy. The dark brown seed is very large and sits at the top of the fruit.