Muntingia calabura
Muntingiaceae FAMILY

Muntingia calabura

Muntingia calabura

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Botanical Description

Muntingia calabura is a rapidly growing, small, evergreen shrub or a tree with a short, broad, spreading crown; it can grow from 3 - 12 metres tall[ 303 Title World Agroforesty Centre Publication Author Website http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc. ]. The short bole can be up to 20cm in diameter[ 418 Title Ecocrop Publication Author Website http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available. ]. The lower branches often touch the ground[ 418 Title Ecocrop Publication Author Website http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available. ]. The tree is occasionally cultivated for its edible fruits[ 200 Title The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. Publication Author Huxley. A. Publisher MacMillan Press Year 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5 Description Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed. ]. It flowers and fruits over a long period, even on young plants[ 200 Title The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. Publication Author Huxley. A. Publisher MacMillan Press Year 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5 Description Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed. , 372 Title Flowers of India Publication Author Website http://www.flowersofindia.net/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A wed site of native Indian plants, plus cultivated and naturalized species. It has good quality photos and terse details on more than 3,000 species and cultivars. ]. There are both red and yellow fruited forms[ 301 Title Cornucopia II Publication Author Facciola. S. Publisher Kampong Publications, California. Year 1998 ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 Description The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc. ]. It is also sometimes grown as an ornamental and amenity shade tree[ 418 Title Ecocrop Publication Author Website http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available. , 942 Title Thai Forest Bulletin (Botany) No. 16 Publication Author Publisher The Forest Herbarium; Bangkok. Year 1986 ISBN 0495-3843 Description A botanical journal, publishing papers on taxonomy (especially vascular plants), nomenclature, phylogeny, systematics, plant geography, and floristics; also morphology, palynology, cytotaxonomy, chemotaxonomy, anatomy and other relevant disciplines. ].

Habitat & Origin

Origintropical
Native RangeWestern S. America, north to Mexico and the Caribbean.
HabitatWell-drained limestone banks and in thickets at elevations from sea level to 600 metres in Jamaica[ 426 Title Flowering Plants of Jamaica Publication Author Adams. C.D. Publisher University of the West Indies; Jamaica. Year 1972 ISBN Description A terse treatment of the flowering plants of Jamaica, with a botanical description of each plant, notes on habitat etc. ]. A typical pioneer species, colonizing disturbed sites in tropical lowlands[ 303 Title World Agroforesty Centre Publication Author Website http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc. ].