Bronze

This small shrub grows up to 1 foot (30.5 cm) tall and lives for around 43 years. It is very resistant to disease and destructive insect infestation.

It has numerous very thick, wavy stems covered in hard, knobbly, brown-green bark, and the wood inside is pale brown.

The branches are very short and slender with dozens of twigs that and are covered with small amounts of giant, spear shaped, leaves with irregular edges. The leaves themselves are a shade of green that gradient shifts to bronze at the top, frail and soft.

In mid-spring it produces a thick sheet of large, dark grey blossoms with finger-like petals with a bell-shaped floral cup. They detach easily and have an intensely strong scent that smells like pineapple.

In midwinter small cuboid fruits ripen. The crispy silver skin is tough and inedible, and the very soft washed-out orange flesh is spicy and powdery. The light brown seed is very large and sits at the top of the fruit.