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Carissa macrocarpa
Also called Natal Plum, Amantungula Numnum, Amantungulu, Big Numnum, Large Num Num, Num Num, Amathungulu
In Singapore: Dwarf Natal Plum, 大花假虎刺 (Grown in Singapore)
Carissa macrocarpa is a spiny, evergreen shrub from tropical and southern Africa, grown for its shiny leaves, fragrant white flowers and edible crimson fruit. It thrives in full sun and handles salt-laden coastal winds well.
Carissa macrocarpa is a shrub native to tropical and southern Africa. It is commonly known as the Natal plum, amathungulu, big num-num or large num-num.
Carissa macrocarpa deals well with salt-laden winds, making it a good choice for coastal areas. It is commonly found in the coastal bush of the Eastern Cape and Natal. It produces shiny, deep green leaves and snowy white flowers whose perfumed scent intensifies at night. Like other Carissa species, C. macrocarpa is a spiny, evergreen shrub containing latex. They bloom for months at a time. The ornamental plump, round, crimson fruit appears in summer and fall (autumn) at the same time as the blooms. In moderate, coastal areas the fruits appear through the year. The fruit can be eaten out of hand or made into pies, jams, jellies, and sauces. Some claim that other than the fruit, the plant is poisonous.
Carissa macrocarpa grows mainly in coastal areas of South Africa. It can be found on sand dunes and on the edges of coastal forests in the Eastern Cape and northwards to Natal and Mozambique. The species also occurs in Zambia and Zimbabwe and further north in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya. Today the plant is also grown commonly in southern Florida and is cultivated in southern California and used widely as an ornamental in Hawaii, Central America and the Caribbean.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Carissa macrocarpa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
