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Genipa americana
Rubiaceae FAMILY

Genipa americana

Genipa americana

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
GrowthMedium

A plant of the moist, lowland tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 400 metres[1]. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 24 - 31°c, but can tolerate 12 - 35°c[1]. Mature plants can be killed by temperatures of -3°c or lower, but young growth will be severely damaged at -1°c[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,200 - 1,700mm, but tolerates 900 - 2,000mm[1]. It tolerates an annual rainfall of 1,200 - 4,000 mm[2]. It tolerates dry periods of up to 6 months, but will then shed its leaves for a time[3, 2]. An easily grown plant, it prefers a rich, humid, well-drained soil in full sun to partial shade[3]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 7, tolerating 5 - 8[1]. The plant tolerates periods of flooding in its native range[4]. Plants can begin to flower when 3 - 5 years old from seed[1].

Propagation

Seed - it is not dormant and so pre-treatment is not necessary. However, soaking the seeds in running water for 1 - 2 days just prior to sowing will accelerate germination[2]. Seed may be sown in light shade in a nursery seedbed. Germination rates are normally high with between 65 - 100% of the seed sprouting within 1 - 4 weeks. The seedlings are ready for pricking out about 20 days later[2]. Initial growth rates are slow, taking about 12 months to attain a transplanting size of 20 - 40cm[2]. Because of drought sensitivity the best way of establishment is to use containerised seedlings[2]. Vegetative propagation by cuttings is also possible[2]. Grafting is used for varieties with superior fruit quality[2]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Genipa+americana>

Pollinators

Bees

References

  1. [1]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  2. [2]Seed Leaflets — Various · Forest & Landscape. Denmark · http://en.sl.life.ku.dk/Publikationer/Udgivelser/PopulaerPublikationer.aspx?katid={D28373CC-6EF3-4EF8-B097-6D83FABF209E}&serieid={9F1C3DB1-6E7B-4CF1-AF53-F480B0CB40EF}&sort=title ↩︎A series of leaflets, jointly produced by the University of Copenhagen and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, focussing on seed information for a number species, but also giving a lot of other information about each plant.
  3. [3]Tropical and Subtropical Trees - A Worldwide Encyclopaedic Guide. — Barwick. M. · Thames & Hudson, London · 2004 · ISBN 0-500-51181-0 ↩︎A superb book, very concise and well written, giving a wealth of information on 400 or more species including descriptions, habitat, cultivation details and plant uses. A wealth of colour photographs bring each plant vividly to life.
  4. [4]Brazilian Fruits and Cultivated Exotics — Lorenzi. H.; Bacher. L.; Lacerda. M.; Sartori. S. · Instituto Plantarum De Estudos Da Flora LTDA; Brazil. · 2000 · ISBN 85-867174-24-0 ↩︎A superb book, giving information on several hundred fruit species. Each entry has a brief description of the plant and its uses, accompanied by one to many excellent quality photographs of the fruits.
  5. [5]Medicinal Plants of the Guianas — DeFilipps, R. A.; Maina, S. L.; & Crepin, J. · Smithsonian Museum · http://botany.si.edu/bdg/medicinal/index.html ↩︎A down-loadable PDF document of a book in pre-publication awaiting illustration. An excellent, if rather terse, guide to the traditional medicinal uses of the plants of the region
  6. [6]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  7. [7]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
  8. [8]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  9. [9]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.
  10. [10]A Century of Trees of Panama. — Pittier H. Mell C.D. · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎A work that was very difficult to get published according to the correspondence contained at the start!. A treatment of 100 different species with descriptions and details of uses. It can be downloaded from the Internet.