Eugenia pitanga
Dwarf Cerraddo Cherry
Eugenia pitanga, Dwarf Cerrado Cherry
Eugenia pitanga, Dwarf Cerrado Cherry, is one of my favorite Eugenia spp. The plant itself is dwarf in habit and only gets to be a couple of feet tall and wide. The plant itself is rhizomatus and sends out thickets of runners creating a dense little shrub that gets loaded with fruit. The plant seems to defoliate in cold weather but pushes profuse amounts of new foliage when the weather warms up. It appears that multiple different individuals are required for pollination as fruit set did not occur until hand pollination with a different plant occurred. This is a must have for fruit collectors and those that are looking for a really distinct and interesting fruit tree that only gets to be a couple of feet tall and wide. This makes it an incredibly distinct and interesting plant in Food Forest systems.
Family: Myrtaceae
Name: Eugenia pitanga
Common Name / Native Name: Dwarf Cerrado Cherry
Range: From Bolivia through Brazil and into Argentina
Sun: Full sun/Part Shade
Height: ~4’
Width: 6+’
Foliage: Dark green foliage reminiscent of Suriname Cherry (Eugenia uniflora)
Flower: Showy white flowers on large pedicles covering the whole entire plant
Fruit: Fruits a little larger than regular E. uniflora. Very delicious and have less of a resinous flavor. One of my favorite fresh eating Eugenia species
Soil Type/ pH: Tolerates higher pH soils
USDA Climate Zones: 9b+
Cold Hardiness: Has handled frosts and temperatures around 30*F with protection. No die back in a hoop house without any additional heating/cold weather protection.
Edibility: One of my favorite fresh eating Eugenia species. The fruit is delicious, sweet and slightly resinous, but less so than your average Suriname cherry (Eugenia unfilora). They’d probably be great processed but are so good you’ll probably never get them back to the kitchen.
Age to maturity: 3-5 years
Sources: Grown at Wildlands Farm and Nursery