Carissa carandas, Carissa congesta
Family: Apocynaceae
Karanda
Origin: India
small tree 10-20 ft, full sun, moderate water, white/off-white
flowers, fragrant, thorny or spinyethnom, edical, edible, attracts
butterflies, hummingbirds, Seaside, salt tolerant.
Medium sized vine-like shrub that will climb if given support.
This species is a rank-growing, straggly, woody, climbing shrub,
usually growing to 10 or 15 ft ,high and sometimes ascending to the
tops of tall trees. Rich in white, gummy latex. The karanda is more
cold-tolerant than the carissa, is fairly hardy and will survive to
25F. Plants are salt tolerant and can be trained into hedges. It is
most fruitful on deep, fertile, well-drained soil but if the soil is
too wet, there will be excessive vegetative growth and lower fruit
production. The sweeter types may be eaten raw out-of-hand but the
more acid ones are best stewed with plenty of sugar. The unripe
fruit is used medicinally as an astringent. The ripe fruit is taken
as an antiscorbutic and remedy for biliousness. Propagation is
usually by seed because cuttings have never rooted readily. |
