Common Name:

General Information

Randia aculeata is a deciduous shrub or small tree with a thin crown of many, nearly horizontal, spiny branches; it can grow 1.5 - 6 metres tall. The short, straight bole can be 8cm in diameter[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food, medicine, dye and source of wood. It is sometimes grown as an ornamental, as a bonsai specimen and is perhaps suitable as a pioneer species in dry areas prone to strong winds.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

S. America - Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana; C. America - Panama to Mexico; Caribbean - Trinidad to the Bahamas; SE N. America - Florida.

Habitat

Thickets and open forests, mainly in drier areas in the coastal, limestone and lower montane regions of Puerto Rico[]. Unburned pinelands and along the margins of coastal hammocks in Florida[]. Plants seldom, if ever, form thickets[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Shrub
Height	4.00 m
Growth Rate	Slow
Pollinators	Butterflies
Cultivation Status	Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the lowland tropics and subtropics, where it grows at elevations from sea level to more than 600 metres. It inhabits areas that receive a mean annual rainfall from about 700 - 2,200mm[]. Established plants can tolerate some frost[].
Grows best in an open position with full sun or light shade[]. Succeeds in most types of soils, including excessively drained and well drained, but not in poorly drained soils[]. Tolerant of low levels of salt in the soil[]. Plants are very resistant to the wind and can withstand hurricanes[]. Established plants are drought tolerant[].
A slow-growing plant[].
The tree is often decorated and used as a Christmas tree[].
The plant can flower and produce green fruits almost all year round[].

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw[]. Of poor flavour[]. The globose fruit is a berry 6 - 13mm in diameter that contains 5 - 10 rounded seeds in a blue or black pulp[, ].

Medicinal

The fruits are used in the treatment of dysentery[].

A latex oftained from the plant is reported to effectively stop bleeding[].

An unspecified part of the plant is used to control fever[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The species invades abandoned land, but not quickly, and because of slow growth, is not common in early secondary forest following cultivation. However, the plant does hang on tenaciously after disturbance and is prominent in secondary forests arising after logging or partial clearing for pasture[]. It could have a role to play as a pioneer species when restoring native woodland or establishing a woodland garden, especially in drier soils and areas subject to strong winds[].

Other Uses

A blue dye is obtained from the berries[]. It can be used as an ink[].

The light brown wood is hard and heavy. Fishing rods are made from the rigid stems[].
The wood is a useful fuel[].

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe. It tests, seed sown in containers had a 25% germination rate within 46 - 168 days of sowing[]. It can take 12 months or more before the seedlings are ready to plant out[].

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