Silvervine

This large shrub grows up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall and lives for around 82 years. It is very resistant to destructive insect infestation but susceptible to disease.

It has dozens of very thick, crooked stems covered in waxy, silver and white bark, and the wood inside is brown.

The branches trail down across the ground with thousands of twigs that and are covered with large amounts of tiny, sickle shaped, leaves with serrated edges. The leaves themselves are lilac and olive, flimsy and fuzzy.

In late spring it produces dozens of small, black blossoms with perforated petals with a tube-like floral cup. They are hardy and have a soft scent that smells like meat.

In late winter tiny circular fruits ripen. The fuzzy black skin is thin and inedible, and the crunchy blood red flesh is savoury and very dry. The dark grey seeds are large and are scattered throughout the fruit.