“Dead Men’s Fingers” Or Blue Sausage Fruit – Whatever You Call It, This Fruit Is Odd

If you only ever saw the leaves or flowers of the Decaisnea fargesii shrub, you might not be tempted to give it a second glance – they look a lot like plenty of other leaves and flowers do. But come the fall, something happens to this plant that you’d be hard-pressed to miss. It grows dead men’s fingers. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

What are dead men’s fingers?

Okay, so they aren’t actually dead men’s fingers (although please credit us when you use the idea of plants that grow the deceased’s digits in your horror movie script), but it’s easy to see where the fruit of D. fargesii gets the nickname from. They’re gray-blue, chunky, with constrictions resembling the creases on a finger, and come to a point that