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Chironia baccifera
Also called Piles Bush, Toothache Berry, Wild Gentian
Chironia baccifera is a bushy, subtropical shrub from South Africa, usually about 0.5 m tall and wide, grown for its red berries and ornamental look. It does best in sandy, well-drained soil with plenty of sun.
Chironia baccifera, known as Christmas berry (a name it shares with Passerina ericoides), bitterbossie or aambeibessie, is species of Chironia native to southern South Africa. A bushy shrub, it can reach 1 m (3 ft 3 in), but is typically 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in) in width and height. Its Afrikaans name aambeibessie refers to its supposed medicinal use in treating haemorrhoids. It is used as an ornamental, preferring sandy soils. It is mildly toxic.
Chironia gratissima · Transvaal chironia · Dwarf chironia · Coastal chironia
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chironia baccifera 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.
