Malpighia Species, Acerola, Barbados Cherry, Manzanita, Wild Crapemyrtle

produces lots of flowers
i think the squirrels get mos of the fruit before i do
the plant grows rather fast if given lots o...Read Moref sun and ample water.

its taken a couple of light freezes (30ish) with a little leaf loss
but came back strong.
Last winter we had 1 freeze, it hit 26F (coldest in 15yrs)
and it lost small branches and twigs, but still is coming back strong.

plant needs iron and magnesium (epsom salt works)
iron can certainly green-up the leaves.

when first planted it was growing fast.
with wet soil and high wind it fell over.
i propped it up, and 2yrs later its fine now.

fruit are somewhat tasteless. must be ripe
but high in vitamin C.

I bought 4 of these plants from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in the spring of 2013. They are supposed to live in shade, and I ...Read Moreplanted them on the north side of my house. The plants have just sat there, not dying, but not growing either. Only one plant bloomed (a little) this year and made 5 little cherries. The cherries are tasteless and slightly tart. That same plant was the only one which grew a few extra branches - nothing spectacular. I had high hopes of these plants turning into a low hedge with pretty pink flowers and little edible cherries to attract birds and butterflies. They are very slow growing and have done next to nothing. Perhaps they want more sun. I recently dug them up, put them in pots, and planted sasanqua camellias there instead, hoping for a better outcome with the camellias. I will probably just get rid of the Barbados cherries (malpighia glabra). I was very disappointed, since I was hoping for a more native-type plant. Spring, TX

amazing tree, excited when it fruited twice, now onto it's 5th fruiting this summer - wow.....what to do with all the fruit, raw/jam/jel...Read Morely/cordial? Flavour is divine, depending on ripeness, can even taste like feijoa which is a real favorite but difficult to grow here in Australia, fruit fly love to bite feijoa and ruin them.

This is a small shrubby plant, which produces profusions of pink flowers followed by small (pea-sized) fruit.
It spreads readily t...Read Moreo form a mound of foliage and flowers which is very attractive.
The fruits, IMO, are quite dry and tasteless and too small to bother collecting to eat or make jellies or for cooking. Still, it is a beautiful plant.
The other species, emarginata and juncifolia, make large, cherry-sized fruit that is very tasty and juicy.