EUGENIA (Syzgium)

Grown for attractive foliage, white flowers, edible cherries. Perform best in a moist atmosphere, with rich, well-drained soil and a sheltered location.

cherry of the rio grande

E. aggregata

• Zones TS; USDA 10-11.
• Native to Brazil.
• To 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide, with bark peeling in thin layers.
• Narrow, elliptical, glossy, dark green leaves to 3 inches long.
• Showy flowers to about 1 inches across.
• Oval fruit to 1 inches long ripens from orange-red to deep purplish red, is said to taste like cherries.
• Eat fresh or use for jams, jellies.

australian bush cherry

E. myrtifolia

• Zones CS, TS; USDA 9-11.
• Although known to grow into a 15 feet-tall, multitrunked shrub, it is often used as a privacy screen or a topiary plant, trimmed into playful spirals and pompons.
• New growth emerges bronze and remains showy against the older green foliage.
• Flowers are creamy white puff balls in spring, and they are followed by red berries.

surinam cherry, pitanga

E. uniflora

• Zones CS, TS; USDA 9-11.
• From the tropical Americas.
• Very slow, open growth to about 1525 feet tall and 1015 feet wide, though it's commonly seen at 68 feet tall with equal spread.
• Glossy, copper-tinged green leaves reach 2 inches long, deepen in color to purplish or red in cold weather.
• Fragrant, showy, 12 inches-wide flowers with prominent stamens.
• Roundish, inch-wide fruit ripens from yellow to orange to deep red; it is edible when fully ripe.
• Fruit of seedlings ranges from quite sweet and cherrylike to very sour.
• Lolita has sweet, black fruit that is far superior in flavor to that of seedlings; it's good for jams, jellies.
• Grafted selections are sometimes available.
• Good screen.
• Can be sheared into a hedge, but by doing so you'll sacrifice fruit.