The Lakpura Miracle Berry Layered Plant is a young miracle berry shrub, Synsepalum dulcificum, supplied growing in a black nursery bag. In the photograph it is a small, leafy plant with oval green leaves and a flush of new leaves in a coppery red.
The miracle berry is a slow-growing evergreen shrub native to West Africa. Its fruit is a small, oval red berry with a thin layer of pulp around a single seed. The pulp contains a protein called miraculin, which briefly changes how the tongue registers taste, so that sour foods such as lemon or tamarind taste sweet for somewhere between a quarter of an hour and an hour after the berry is eaten.
Layered in the name refers to how the plant was raised. Layering is a way of propagating a plant from a stem or branch that is encouraged to form roots while still attached to its parent, and is then cut free to grow on its own. It is a vegetative method rather than growing from seed.
The shrub is suited to warm, humid conditions and is often kept in a container, which also makes it easy to move under cover. It prefers slightly acidic soil. The pile of red berries in the second photograph shows the fruit for reference; this listing is for the living plant, not for fruit.
