Colletia armata

Small evergreen tree from South America, with wicked spines and delicious flowers. Highly unusual and few grow it, so it’s rather desirable in a ‘don’t touch me’ kind of way. Described often as a ‘heap of barbed wire’ which is unkind. As far as we know, legions of butterflies are rarely attracted to heaps of barbed wire and this intriguing tree most certainly smells better.