Carissa spinarum
| Conkerberry | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Carissa spinarum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Apocynaceae |
| Genus: | Carissa |
| Species: | C. spinarum |
| Binomial name | |
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Carissa spinarum L. |
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| Synonyms | |
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Numerous, see text |
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Numerous, see text
Carissa spinarum, the conkerberry or bush plum, is a large shrub of the dogbane family (Apocynaceae), widely distributed in tropical regions of Africa, Southern Asia, Australia, and various islands of the Indian Ocean. It is most well known in Australia, where it is also called currant bush or, more ambiguously, native currant or even black currant. It is, however, neither closely related to plums (Prunus) nor to true currants (Ribes), which belong to entirely different lineages of eudicots. In India, it is also called wild karanda /wild karavanda, referring to the related karanda (C. carandas). Carissa spinarum is often discussed under its many obsolete synonyms (see below).
It grows as a multi-stemmed shrub, 0.5 to 3 metres in height. The leaves are glossy green, opposite, narrow ovate to lanceolate and 1–5 cm in length. The branches bear thorns of 1–3 cm length. White, star-shaped flowers ~1 cm across are followed by ovate green berries, 1–2 cm in length, which turn black or dark purple when ripe.
Carissa spinarum is most often found in semiarid coastal regions on fine-textured soils such as clays and clay-loams; in more arid regions the plant tends to be confined to areas of higher moisture such as at the base of hills or floodout areas. But it has a high ecological tolerance and can live in a wide range of habitats. In Australia for example, it is often found in association with Eucalyptus brownii, poplar box (E. populnea), gidgee (Acacia cambagei) or brigalow (A. harpophylla), in coastal rainforest, gallery forest and vine thickets in regions receiving in excess of 900 mm annual rainfall, as well as softwood scrubs and open eucalypt savannas receiving less than 700 mm annual rainfall.
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Wikipedia