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Decaisnea insignis
Decaisnea insignis, popularly known as "dead man's fingers" is a Chinese botanical oddity known for its tropical-looking, pinnately compound leaves and curious blue fruit.
Decaisnea is the only shrubby genus in Lardizabalaceae, a family of otherwise strictly woody climbers (lianas) from Asia and South America. Plants are monoecious (separate male and female flowers), exhibiting pistillate flowers at the base of drooping racemes of staminate flowers. In this garden, bunches of finger-sized, fleshy follicles regularly develop. These gradually turn blue, becoming crooked and distended when ripe (hence the common name). They eventually split open to expose watermelon-like seeds embedded in a viscous, edible pulp.
