The Barbados Cherry (Acerola Cherry) by Paula Szilard After about three years my small Barbados cherry is finally blooming and fruiting. I had moved it from an East to a West exposure in May and the added sunshine might have triggered the bloom cycle. This plant has dozens of names. From Hawaii I knew it as Acerola cherry. It is most famous for its high vitamin C content. Botanists know it has Malpihia punicifolia. Occasionally it is still referred to as Malpighia glauca. Only Rosa rugosa has fruits (hips) with more vitamin C. This plant is in the Malpighiaceae family, consisting of about 60 genera and roughly 850 species of shrubs and trees, most of which are unknown to horticulture. It can be cultivated as a shrub or as a tree. In the ground it can grow 15-20 ft. tall. In containers, it will only get as big as you let it. Fortunately, it blooms and fruits when it is small. Although the fruits look like cherries, they don’t have a pit typical of cherries, but seeds instead. Nonetheless you would probably want to spit out the seeds rather than swallowing them. The fruits are technically berries and are slightly lobed, about ½ to 1 inch in diameter. I saw it in the Logee’s catalog and was captivated by its delicate pink flower clusters dangling from hanging stems. The pink to lavender blossoms are about ¾ inch wide and have five spoon-shaped petals, giving the flowers a lacy look. In warm climates it flowers several times throughout the year. What I have is probably a dwarf variety, but the Logee’s catalog did not specifically say it was a dwarf. The variety labeled “Dwarf” grows no higher than 2 feet. It can take slightly lower temperatures, down to 22 F. I pruned mine into a standard and it is now just shy of 2 ft tall, but it was flowering moderately well, but only on the window side. So, I put it outside and it burst into bloom all over. For those who do not like acidic fruit, there are two semisweet varieties ‘Florida Sweet,’ developed by the University of Florida, and ‘Manoa Sweet,’ developed at the University of Hawaii. I should add that mine is still in a 6-inch pot. Smaller plants are often used to train as Bonsai. The Barbados cherry thrives in neutral to alkaline soils with pH levels of 6.5 to 7.5. Measure the acidity of your mix and add a little horticultural lime as necessary. The plant is believed to have originated in the Yucatan peninsula. From there it spread throughout the Caribbean and tropical America. It made its way to Florida, southern Texas, the Philippines and other tropical and subtropical parts of the world. It grows wild in southern Texas. An effort to establish this fruit commercially in Hawaii failed because, as a natural source of vitamin C, this plant lost out to the cheaper synthetic products on the market. Nonetheless, it’s still grown in many Hawaii gardens. Favored uses are in juice, jellies and sauces. Those of us who experienced the health food craze of the late 1960s and 70s know this plant for its incredibly high vitamin C content. Many of us bought bottles of acerola tablets to take with our multivitamins. By comparison, citrus fruits have miniscule amounts of this vitamin. A 4-ounce serving of oranges, (edible parts only, contains around 60 mg of Vitamin C., while a 3 ½ ounces or 100 grams of green Barbados cherries has whopping 4,500 mg. Unfortunately, the riper the fruit, the more vitamin C it loses. Ripe berries contain 2000 mg for the same quantity. That still leaves us in Linus Pauling territory of mega-doses! Grown in the ground, the plant is considered xeric. When it becomes very dry it loses its leaves, but leafs out again when it gets sufficient water. It is said that generous watering will induce flowering. Mature trees can take temperatures down to 28 F and survive. Young plants die if they are exposed to temperatures of 30 F. Agronomists recommend different fertilizers for different stages of development, with somewhere around 8-8-13 in the beginning. Unfortunately, this exact ratio might be difficult to find. I have been using the Dynagrow Grow formula, which has NPK ratios of 7-9-5 and has all the essential micronutrients needed for plant growth. A 10-10-10 formula is fairly easy to find, but again, be sure it has the micronutrients. I see no need to switch to other formulations as the plant matures. I am not growing a tree, after all, just a small plant. Do get a fertilizer that has all the necessary micronutrients. It needs a goodly amount of iron and boron. The plant is pollinated by bees, but must be somewhat self fertile because it has stayed indoors. Yet even indoors, it has had a couple of fruits on it. The likelihood is that pollination by bees increases the amount of fruit. Seed propagated plants can start to bear in 3-4 years. Other methods of propagation used are air-layering, grafting and cuttings. Do not be discouraged if you get blossom drop. As much as 90% of the blossoms can fall and you’ll still get some fruit, which mature rapidly, in 24-42 days. Commercial growers use a chemical to increase fruit set. It is still unclear whether the plant needs to be cross pollinated with pollen from a second variety for a good crop. Flowers and fruits are formed on the previous year’s growth. When grown outdoors in warm climates, it is susceptible to attack by a root-knot nematodes. This, however, is not an issue in container-grown plants grown in potting mix. It is also attacked by whitefly, aphids, mealy bugs and scale. My plant has only had mealy bugs, which I rinsed off very carefully to avoid damaging the flowers. In all likelihood, there won’t be enough berries on a small plant such as mine to do much. It’s like growing a small coffee tree. You are going to get a few ripe red berries, but never enough to brew any coffee. You grow it for the shiny wavy leaves and white flowers. The Barbados cherry is a very pretty plant to grow indoors in the winter and put out in the summer. Grow it for its delicate, pretty pink or lavender flowers! And maybe you can boost your intake of vitamin C by eating a berry now and then. Sources: Lyle, Susanna. Fruit & Nuts: A Comprehensive Guide to the Cultivation, Uses and Health Benefits of over 300 Food-Producing Plants. Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2006. Morton, Julia F. Barbados Cherry. Purdue University, 1987. (A reprint of the section on Barbados cherries in Julia Morton’s book, Fruits of Warm Climates.) www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/barbados_cherry.html. Phillips, R. L. Barbados Cherry. University of Florida, IFAS Extension, 1994.

The Barbados Cherry

(Acerola Cherry)

Paula Szilard

After about three years my small Barbados cherry is finally blooming and fruiting. I had moved it from an East to a West exposure in May and the added sunshine might have triggered the bloom cycle. This plant has dozens of names. From Hawaii I knew it as Acerola cherry. It is most famous for its high vitamin C content. Botanists know it has Malpihia punicifolia. Occasionally it is still referred to as Malpighia glauca. Only Rosa rugosa has fruits (hips) with more vitamin C. This plant is in the Malpighiaceae family, consisting of about 60 genera and roughly 850 species of shrubs and trees, most of which are unknown to horticulture. It can be cultivated as a shrub or as a tree. In the ground it can grow 15-20 ft. tall. In containers, it will only get as big as you let it. Fortunately, it blooms and fruits when it is small. Although the fruits look like cherries, they don’t have a pit typical of cherries, but seeds instead. Nonetheless you would probably want to spit out the seeds rather than swallowing them. The fruits are technically berries and are slightly lobed, about ½ to 1 inch in diameter.

I saw it in the Logee’s catalog and was captivated by its delicate pink flower clusters dangling from hanging stems. The pink to lavender blossoms are about ¾ inch wide and have five spoon-shaped petals, giving the flowers a lacy look. In warm climates it flowers several times throughout the year. What I have is probably a dwarf variety, but the Logee’s catalog did not specifically say it was a dwarf. The variety labeled “Dwarf” grows no higher than 2 feet. It can take slightly lower temperatures, down to 22 F. I pruned mine into a standard and it is now just shy of 2 ft tall, but it was flowering moderately well, but only on the window side. So, I put it outside and it burst into bloom all over. For those who do not like acidic fruit, there are two semisweet varieties ‘Florida Sweet,’ developed by the University of Florida, and ‘Manoa Sweet,’ developed at the University of Hawaii. I should add that mine is still in a 6-inch pot. Smaller plants are often used to train as Bonsai. The Barbados cherry thrives in neutral to alkaline soils with pH levels of 6.5 to 7.5. Measure the acidity of your mix and add a little horticultural lime as necessary.

The plant is believed to have originated in the Yucatan peninsula. From there it spread throughout the Caribbean and tropical America. It made its way to Florida, southern Texas, the Philippines and other tropical and subtropical parts of the world. It grows wild in southern Texas.

An effort to establish this fruit commercially in Hawaii failed because, as a natural source of vitamin C, this plant lost out to the cheaper synthetic products on the market. Nonetheless, it’s still grown in many Hawaii gardens. Favored uses are in juice, jellies and sauces.

Those of us who experienced the health food craze of the late 1960s and 70s know this plant for its incredibly high vitamin C content. Many of us bought bottles of acerola tablets to take with our multivitamins. By comparison, citrus fruits have miniscule amounts of this vitamin. A 4-ounce serving of oranges, (edible parts only, contains around 60 mg of Vitamin C., while a 3 ½ ounces or 100 grams of green Barbados cherries has whopping 4,500 mg. Unfortunately, the riper the fruit, the more vitamin C it loses. Ripe berries contain 2000 mg for the same quantity. That still leaves us in Linus Pauling territory of mega-doses!

Grown in the ground, the plant is considered xeric. When it becomes very dry it loses its leaves, but leafs out again when it gets sufficient water. It is said that generous watering will induce flowering. Mature trees can take temperatures down to 28 F and survive. Young plants die if they are exposed to temperatures of 30 F.

Agronomists recommend different fertilizers for different stages of development, with somewhere around 8-8-13 in the beginning. Unfortunately, this exact ratio might be difficult to find. I have been using the Dynagrow Grow formula, which has NPK ratios of 7-9-5 and has all the essential micronutrients needed for plant growth. A 10-10-10 formula is fairly easy to find, but again, be sure it has the micronutrients. I see no need to switch to other formulations as the plant matures. I am not growing a tree, after all, just a small plant. Do get a fertilizer that has all the necessary micronutrients. It needs a goodly amount of iron and boron.

The plant is pollinated by bees, but must be somewhat self fertile because it has stayed indoors. Yet even indoors, it has had a couple of fruits on it. The likelihood is that pollination by bees increases the amount of fruit. Seed propagated plants can start to bear in 3-4 years. Other methods of propagation used are air-layering, grafting and cuttings. Do not be discouraged if you get blossom drop. As much as 90% of the blossoms can fall and you’ll still get some fruit, which mature rapidly, in 24-42 days. Commercial growers use a chemical to increase fruit set. It is still unclear whether the plant needs to be cross pollinated with pollen from a second variety for a good crop. Flowers and fruits are formed on the previous year’s growth.

When grown outdoors in warm climates, it is susceptible to attack by a root-knot nematodes. This, however, is not an issue in container-grown plants grown in potting mix. It is also attacked by whitefly, aphids, mealy bugs and scale. My plant has only had mealy bugs, which I rinsed off very carefully to avoid damaging the flowers.

In all likelihood, there won’t be enough berries on a small plant such as mine to do much. It’s like growing a small coffee tree. You are going to get a few ripe red berries, but never enough to brew any coffee. You grow it for the shiny wavy leaves and white flowers. The Barbados cherry is a very pretty plant to grow indoors in the winter and put out in the summer. Grow it for its delicate, pretty pink or lavender flowers! And maybe you can boost your intake of vitamin C by eating a berry now and then.

Sources:

Lyle, Susanna. Fruit & Nuts: A Comprehensive Guide to the Cultivation, Uses and Health Benefits of over 300 Food-Producing Plants. Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2006.

Morton, Julia F. Barbados Cherry. Purdue University, 1987. (A reprint of the section on Barbados cherries in Julia Morton’s book, Fruits of Warm Climates.) www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/barbados_cherry.html.

Phillips, R. L. Barbados Cherry. University of Florida, IFAS Extension, 1994.