Eugenia pitanga, Dwarf Cerrado Cherry, Wildlands Farm Grown Seedling

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