Is Surinam cherry still around?
“Edible landscaping” sounds odd, as though we’re going to graze our lawns. Actually, a lot of what we use for landscaping produces edibles, like cocoplum for example. There’s another pretty little tropical tree with edible fruit that has fallen out of favor — Surinam cherry. It’s a fascinating little tree, but is it also an invasive species?
Back when I moved into my house, there was this ratty little bush slightly blocking the entrance to my backyard. I’d push back the branches, and realizing no one else was caring for it, I occasionally pruned it, more out of frustration than anything else.
Then one magic day, what looked like tiny green pumpkins appeared all over this bush like Christmas tree ornaments. They started out bright green, maturing slowly to yellow, pumpkin orange, and finally a cheery cherry red. A useful word describes their shape: oblate — flattened at the poles. “I wonder if I could eat those,” I thought, “without shortening my life.” With fruit, I could identify this unobtrusive plant: Surinam cherry.
Surinam cherry (Eugenia uniflora) happens to be in the same genus as our native stoppers like white stopper (E. axillaris), Spanish stopper (E. foetida), red stopper (E. rhombea), and redberry stopper (E. confusa). Simpson’s stopper is in a separate genus, but same family.
Like our native stoppers, Surinam cherry stays relatively small and compact; it produces very small, very pretty cream-colored flowers, and supposedly attracts birds with its small fruit. In South Florida and the Bahamas, Surinam cherry fruits in spring — starting around March — and also in fall — around September.
Like others in the Myrtaceae family, it sheds bark. Allspice and bay rum tree are other examples.
Julia Morton’s classic “Wild Plants for Survival in South Florida” includes white stopper (Eugenia axillaris) fruit as edible, but not of much value, but omits Surinam cherry. Morton includes Surinam cherry in the later book “Fruits of Warm Climates,” saying “the Surinam cherry is one of the most common hedge plants throughout the central and southern parts of the state,” but doesn’t indicate it as particularly invasive.
So, when I was sure what tree I had, at last I tasted the fruit. Yuck. It tasted like an electrical fire smells, of melted plastic. After some research I learned why: the berries should only be eaten after they ripen to a very dark, blackish purple and they are ripe only when they easily fall into your hand, or to the ground.
Are they an invasive threat? I don’t see many around in landscaping or natural areas. Though as of the 2017 Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council list, Surinam cherry is still a class 1 invasive in Central and South Florida. Introduced around 1931, it’s had time to spread, and possibly be extirpated to an extent from the South Florida landscape, in which it was used as a fast-growing hedge or privacy screen.
“Those used to grow everywhere,” stressed Fairchild Volunteer Glenn Huberman. “We used to throw the berries at each other. Now, whenever I smell the leaves it reminds me of when I was a kid.”
It seems possible they could cross breed with our closely related native stoppers, and that would be a problem, but I’ve never read of this happening. There are also mentions of Surinam cherry attracting Caribbean and Mediterranean fruit flies; I’ve not personally seen them, but like nearly every other plant, mine has had scale.
Oddly, nothing seems to want the fruit from my tree. I mean no birds, squirrels or possums are willing to eat them? Fruit just gathers on the ground. Julia Morton indicated the seeds should not be eaten, but I don’t even find partially chewed fruit lying about. Just my observation.
That doesn’t mean Surinam cherry isn’t still out there of course. And it would be harder to extirpate from natural areas than from landscaping. At any rate, I’ve learned the hard way that invasives are sooner or later going to cause trouble.
Just the other day, a plump little fruit landed on my head and rolled to the ground, so I thought “eat the fruit and help the environment.” It was ripe enough to fall off the tree and was a dark cherry red. I nibbled a tiny amount. Nasty. I hadn’t waited long enough.
If you’ve got a Surinam cherry, keep an eye on it, and consider replacing it with a native stopper.