Plant · P-532

Natal Plum

Carissa macrocarpa

Natal plum is a spiny evergreen shrub grown for a red, cranberry-flavoured fruit eaten raw when fully ripe or cooked into jellies, syrups and preserves - and it ripens through the year rather than in one flush, so it is more a picking-as-you-pass crop than a harvest glut. Its stiff forked spines and dense growth make an effective animal-proof hedge, while dwarf cultivars spread low and thick enough to work as ground cover instead. It comes from coastal dunes in southern Africa, tolerates salt spray and drought once established, but is stopped cold by hard freezes.