Common Name: Ciruela Del Monte

General Information

Ciruela Del Monte is a very attractive, evergreen shrub or small tree with attractive flowers and fruit that are borne freely for most of the year[]. It usually grows from 2 - 10 metres tall[, ].
The edible fruit is harvested from the wild for local use. The plant is sometimes grown as an ornamental plant in warm temperate to tropical areas[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

S. America - Colombia, Venezuela.

Habitat

An understorey tree in dry and moist limestone forests near the coast, dry rocky open lowland[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	6.00 m
Growth Rate	Medium
Cultivation Status	Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

Older plants are tolerant of light frosts and can succeed in warm temperate to tropical areas[]. Grows in areas with a distinct dry season and also in moister areas[].
Succeeds in most soils in a sunny position[]. Requires a well-drained soil[]. Established plants are very drought tolerant[].
Plants sometimes escape from cultivation and become established in the wild[].

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw. It has a sticky, dense, sweet, pleasant-tasting pulp[, , ]. About the size of a quail egg, the reddish-orange fruit is not very juicy but has concentrated sugars like a dried fig or an American persimmon[]. Some people have compared the fruit to a cooked sweet potato, whilst it is also sometimes called the peanut butter fruit because its texture, but not its taste, is similar to peanut butter[]. The broadly ovoid fruit is about 23mm in diameter[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -
Cuttings of semi-ripe wood.
Greenwood cuttings.

Add a Comment:

If you have any useful information about this plant, please leave a comment. Comments have to be approved before they are shown here.

Name:

Email(Private):

Message:

Captcha: How many suns are in our solar system