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View Full Version : Carissa spinarum, one of the world's most nutritious fruits


Richard
03-28-2008, 09:46 AM
Two rooted cuttings arrived today via overnight Fed Ex from the U.S.D.A. Tropical Agricultural Station in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico (aka TARS).

:woohoonaner:

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=8915

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=8916

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=8917

Richard
04-13-2008, 11:09 PM
The smaller of the two rootings has given up and died -- but the other has retained its leaves and is now pushing out 1/4 inch worth of new growth from a few nodes.

:woohoonaner:

D_&_T
04-14-2008, 08:36 AM
Sorry to hear that you lost one Richard.

Richard
06-03-2008, 10:47 PM
My remaining plant has continued to grow, so today I transplanted it outside. It's barely visible here inside a shade enclosure made of garden fencing, an old screen from a screen door, and of course the indispensible duct tape :D

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=10004 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10004)

MediaHound
06-04-2008, 09:32 AM
Nice work!

shredlew
08-20-2008, 02:05 AM
Hello again from San Clemente! How is the remaining Cleyera doing now? How did you go about getting the cuttings from TARS?

Thanks!

Richard
08-22-2008, 08:39 AM
Hello again from San Clemente! How is the remaining Cleyera doing now?

Cleyera, known as Sakaki in Japan, is very different from Carissa. :)
My remaining Carissa spinarum is adapting very well now in full sunlight. :D

How did you go about getting the cuttings from TARS?


The USDA maintains a database of named plants and germplasm collections of many of these. You can visit their site at Taxonomy Query for GRIN Species Records (http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxgenform.pl?language=en).

shredlew
08-22-2008, 11:03 AM
Geez, sorry about that. I had Cleyera on the brain that evening. Thanks for getting back to me.

Richard
06-12-2011, 09:09 PM
Here it is, 3 years later!

http://www.plantsthatproduce.com/image_gallery/Carissa_spinarum_2011-06_300x400.jpg

Richard
02-20-2012, 04:56 PM
It's been 5 years since Chiranjit Parmar started me on the quest for this plant. I started a cutting from TARS (http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=6691) about 4 years ago and the plant has steadily grow to about a meter in size. It is doing well in my very mild winter climate where it might reach freezing for an hour before dawn about a half-dozen times per year. The leaves will get a little yellow and red blush during this period but overall that's fantastic for a plant whose native environment has a record low temperature of 45 F (~ 7C).

Since I started growing the plant, a lot of new information and research has come forward. There's a nice synopsis on Wikipedia, including the English name of the plant: Conkerberry - Carissa spinarum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carissa_spinarum).

I've had a couple handfuls of fruit sets on my plant. Its delicious, better than Blueberry in my opinion. :08:

http://www.plantsthatproduce.com/image_gallery/Carissa_spinarum_berries_web.jpg