Plinia cauliflora

Common Name: Jabuticaba

Family: Myrtaceae

Country of Origin: Bolivia, SE. & S. Brazil

Description: This shrub or small tree from Brazil has an unusual means of bearing its fruit. The grape-sized, dark bluish-purple-black fruit are borne directly on the trunk or larger branches (cauliflory). This slow-growing plant takes 8 to 10 years to produce fruit unless it is a grafted tree, which reduces the period. Fully grown, the tree bears several crops per year. The fruit is worth the wait, being juicy, grape-like in appearance and taste. It is used in jelly, or as a fine wine, or eaten out of hand. It can withstand temperatures of 26 degrees F. Propagated by seed or grafting. Air layers have rarely been successful.

Uses: It is used in jelly, or as a fine wine, or eaten out of hand. The astringent decoction of the sun-dried skins is prescribed in Brazil as a treatment for hemoptysis, asthma, diarrhea and dysentery; also as a gargle for chronic inflammation of the tonsils. Such use may also lead to excessive consumption of tannin (carcinogenic if taken over a long period of time)

USDA Zone: 9b-11

Accession #: 199200474

Accession Date: 1992-09-17 00:00:00

Bloom Status: 🪴 Not Flowering

Location: 1316

Quantity: 1

Source: Alan Wachtel

Culture: It can withstand temperatures of 26 degrees F. Propagated by seed or grafting. Air layers have rarely been successful.

Division: Magnoliophyta

Class: Magnoliopsida

Subclass: rosids

Order: Myrtales

Family: Myrtaceae

SubFamily: Myrtoideae

Tribe: Myrteae