Fruit · Medicinal
Acerola Cherry
Malpighia emarginata DC.
Mexico to northern Colombia
Fun factOnly about 22 days pass between flowering and fully ripe fruit, and unripe fruit can contain up to 4,676 mg of vitamin C per 100 g, among the highest of any fruit.
Acerola is an evergreen large shrub or small tree with a thick, rounded canopy of delicate glossy foliage. Small pink or lavender flowers appear in flushes through the warm months and are followed about a month later by bright red, cherry-like fruits with a tart flavour. The fruit is among the richest natural sources of vitamin C, a discovery in 1945 that turned an ornamental into a commercial crop.
Sourced · see Record tab
2on the estate
2carrying a tag
2sponsored
FamilyMalpighiaceae
Spanish nameAcerola
Also known asAcerola, Barbados cherry, West Indian cherry, Acerola, Cereza
Native toMexico to northern Colombia in seasonally dry tropical forest; Purdue gives the origin of the cultivated crop as the Lesser Antilles and northern South America
| Tag | Garden area | Zone | Planted | Status | Sponsored | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Main Orchard | B | 10 June 2016 | Healthy | James S., USA | |
| 250 | Main Orchard | B | 17 June 2016 | Healthy | James S., USA |
0 of these have no tag yet; they will be numbered when the garden team re-tags the estate.