Beware the pretty and shiny baubles

With fruits that look good enough to eat, the Madeira cherry is pretty but poisonous, writes Stephanie Choo

II has been a popular festive plant for a long time. In fact, the winter cherry’s plant’s cute round fruits glow temptingly like shiny baubles on a Christmas tree. But don’t get tempted to harvest any for eating. They’re inedible. Winter cherries are cultivated and sold as small ornamental shrubs. Many varieties are bred from the species Solanum pseudocapsicum, a tender tropical perennial of the nightshade family, Solanaceae and native to South America. The plant was first brought to Madeira before making its way to Europe by Portuguese sailors.

Varieties of winter cherries differ in plant size and form as well as in the size and colour of their fruit. Their tiny starshaped flowers have five petals and are white in colour.

After the seed and fruit have set, smooth and shiny cherry-like fruits will develop, from green to cream-yellow before turning red-orange.

With colours that will enhance the festive Christmas decor, it’s little wonder that the plant is usually available during this period, with names like coral bush, natal cherry, Christmas cherry and Jerusalem cherry.

Interestingly, the plant is also known as

meaning cherry tree of Jerusalem in French.

Winter cherry requires bright light to thrive. • The leaf will fall if the plant is

overwatered.

• The fruits will drop early if the surrounding air is too hot and dry or when the plant is not receiving enough sunlight. TOXIC LEAVES AND FRUITS

Although the fruit resembles the edible capsicum, it’s certainly not the case. The word “pseudocapsicum” clearly suggests that the plant is indeed a false capsicum.

All parts of the plant are not safe to eat as they’re poisonous. In fact, plants in the genus Solanum are toxic to some degree.

Winter cherries contain solanocapsine and the unripe fruits and leaves have the highest concentration of the toxin. If ingested by human, a cat, a dog or a bird, the victim will suffer slow breathing, drowsiness, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach ache or headache. GROW WITH CAUTION

Potted nursery-grown winter cherries are often sold in small pots with many ripened or ripening fruits on the plants.

Pick those that have healthy growth above and below the soil line. Use them to decorate the room inside by settling the plants into some suitable cache pots. Display them somewhere high like on a table where children and pets are not able to reach any parts of the plant.

Winter cherry requires bright light to thrive. Water only when the soil has dried up a little. After the plant has passed its

All parts of the plant are poisonous. prime indoor, transfer it outside and into a one-size-larger pot. Grow winter cherry at sunny positions, in fertile well-drained soil.

Feed the plant with a bloom booster when the plant is blooming and a balanced fertiliser after the plant has finished with flowering. After all the fruits have fallen off, hard-prune the plant to let it regrow.

The plant may get sunburned and hence will require a little protection from the intense afternoon sun. So try to locate the plant where it can get some shade. Propagate using its seeds and stem cuttings.