Heptapleurum arboricola

Native to Hainan and Taiwan, it is an evergreen shrub that sometimes scrambles or grows on other trees in wet forests and along stream banks. Its leaves have seven to nine leaflets arranged like umbrella spokes. Small, bisexual flowers develop in branched clusters, followed by orange fruits that darken to black when mature. Grown as a houseplant, hedge or screen, it has many cultivars with variegated foliage. The species and the cultivar ‘Gold Capella’ have received the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. It has naturalized in parts of Queensland, Australia, and in Hawaiʻi. All parts are toxic to cats and dogs if eaten. Photographed in Barranquilla, Colombia.