The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Muntingia calabura
Also called Jamaica Cherry, Calabur Tree, Panama Berry, Capulin, Strawberry Tree, Singapore Cherry, Calabura
In Singapore: Buah Cheri, Malayan Cherry, Singapore Cherry, Calabura, Cherry Tree, Japanese Cherry, Jamaican Cherry, West Indian Cherry Tree, Kerukup-Siam, Buah Ceri, Capulin, Panama Berry, 西印度櫻桃 (Grown in Singapore)
Muntingia calabura is a fast-growing tropical tree or shrub, the only species in its genus, grown for shade, ornament, and its sweet edible berries. It needs warmth, sun or bright light, and moist but well-drained soil.
Muntingia is a genus of plants in the family Muntingiaceae, comprising only one species, Muntingia calabura, named in honour of Abraham Munting. It is native from southern Mexico to Bolivia and Argentina. Its fruit is edible, and it has been widely introduced in other tropical areas.
M. calabura can be propagated from seeds, seedlings, or cuttings. In Costa Rica, seeds set in the wet season, but require conditions of light and temperature found in forest gaps. In a test in which seeds were placed in wet paper towel at 25 °C in different lighting conditions, 44% of seeds germinated under white light, while none germinated in the dark.
M. calabura is native to southern Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and western South America south to Bolivia and Argentina. It is present in tropical climate in disturbed lowland areas from sea level to 1000 m of elevation. In South India, it is seen in areas adjacent to the Western Ghats.
M. calabura is planted as a source of timber and fuel. Its soft wood is used for rural construction, while the bark is fibrous and used for making ropes.
[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 Muntingia 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.
