Toothed lancewood

A bizarre, slow-growing evergreen tree from New Zealand, it looks more like the folded spokes of an umbrella attached to a central, slender stem. The vicious leaves (which don't look like leaves at all) are 45cm long and just 1cm wide, often with a coloured stripe down the centre. If you want a large specimen, buy big because a five-year-old will still only be 60cm tall. A good choice for a small, idiosyncratic garden, but note that young plants are quite tender.