Ligustrina Cherry

Botanical Name: Eugenia ligustrina

Common Names: Privet Stopper, Birch Berry, Ligustrina Cherry

This hardy shrub from the Caribbean is a great pick for Perth. It has shiny green leaves and white flowers. The berries start green, turn bright red, and then go almost black when they are ready to eat. They taste like a sweet cherry with no nasty aftertaste. It makes a perfect edible hedge. The type of plant you get when there's no more space.

Features:

Ideal prune height range: 1-3m

pH growing conditions: 5.5 to 6.5

Shade or full sun: part shade

Minimum pot year 5: 30L pot

Time to fruit age: 3-4 years

Heat tolerance is high: easily 40c

Cold tolerance is high: -3c easily

These baby plants are tough and grow well in our climate. They do not mind a bit of salt if you live near the coast. You can keep them in a pot or plant them in a row to make a screen. They stay green all year and handle a good trim to keep them looking neat.

Interesting Notes:

The fruit is small but very sweet once it turns that deep, dark colour. If you pick them while they are still bright red, they might be a bit tart.  

This is a top plant for a food forest or a small backyard.

More reasons to consider this one:

They look like mini grumichuma (black cherries)

Here's what the internet says about them, only time will tell are not a lot of people have this one in Perth. 

This mini cherry from the Caribbean, handles our dry air much better than other sub-tropical cherries. The flowers have very long white stamens that make the tree look like it is covered in tiny stars. Even though the berries are small, they have a very thin skin and a big burst of juice. Unlike the Brazilian Cherry (red pitanga), this one has no resin or turpentine taste at all.

The wood is actually very hard and heavy which is why it was used to make tool handles in the old days. It belongs to the Myrtle family, so if you crush the leaves, they have a nice clean scent. 

The name Stopper was given because people used to brew tea from the bark to reduce running nose from a cold. 

In the wild, it grows in rocky soil which is why it does not mind the limestone or sandy patches around Perth.

It is a very compact grower and won't overtake your whole garden like some other hedges. Live in a coastal suburb? The thick waxy leaves protect it from salt spray and windburn. 

The fruit is very high in antioxidants because of that deep black skin color. Because it fruits in cycles, you can often get several harvests in a single year if you keep the water up.

Bees absolutely love the white blossoms and will buzz all over it in spring. The seeds are small and easy to spit out, or you can just eat them with the fruit. 

It is one of the best plants for a pot because it stays happy even if the roots get a bit root bound. If you plant a row of them, they knit together to make a wall that is thick enough to block out the neighbors. I estimate in Perth, you can probably get it 1.5m in height after 6 years.

The berries go through a rainbow of colors starting at green, then orange, then bright red, before hitting black. 

It is very pest resistant and rarely gets the bugs that bother other fruit trees. Attention bonsai and sculpture enthusiasts: It can handle a very hard prune, so you can shape it into a ball or a tall skinny pillar. 

"But I have no room for anything else!" Then this one is for you, if you have a small space, it is a great choice because you get more variety with no space taken.

Limited stock. Pickup from Parkwood, WA. Delivery to Perth Metro only.

Keywords: Eugenia ligustrina, Privet Stopper, edible hedge, Perth rare fruit, black cherry berry