Gardening with Tropical Fruit

The Barbados Cherry

By Gene Joyner, Extension Agent
Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service

Barbados cherry (Malpighia tunicifolia) is a large shrub native to the West Indies and parts of Central America. It is a quite vigorous grower in rich acid soils, but often in alkaline soils develops a lot of nutritional problems and is slightly slower growing.

The leaves are shiny deep green and vary somewhat in size and shape depending on the source of the tree. Mature height in Florida is around 18 to 20 feet with a width of about 25 feet. Small pink to rose colored flowers with 5 petals are produced multiple times of the year with the heaviest flowering occurring from April through October.

Fruit season can be from May to November and the fruits are bright red skinned with a yellow-orange pulp that is very high in vitamin C. The vitamin C content of some Barbados cherries is high enough that one cherry supplies an adult’s daily requirement of this essential vitamin. The fruits usually are very tart due to the high vitamin C content, but sweet varieties are also available with similar quantities of vitamin C.

Trees can be grown in sun or semi-shade and have a fair degree of salt tolerance. Mature trees are also fairly hardy to most cold weather and will not suffer major damage until it gets below 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

Most Barbados cherries are subject to nematode damage to the root system so in real sandy soils with low organic content they may not be as vigorous as those on very rich organic soils or ones with a good deal of topsoil with high organic content. Trees benefit from mulching and it’s recommended that the mulching extend as far as the drip edge of the tree and be at least 4 inches deep. This will help and discourage and reduce nematode populations and also assist the tree in drought periods since it’s very shallow rooted.

Propagation of Barbados cherries is usually by cuttings, air layering and occasionally by seed, but seedlings generally have very poor quality fruit compared to those propagated vegetatively. Occasionally plant bugs, scale insects and other pests will attack the foliage or fruit, but rarely to the point of having to apply pesticides.

Most nurseries do not have name varieties of Barbados cherry, but occasionally you will see Florida sweet or B-17 offered and these have excellent quality fruit.