Herbert River Cherry Fruit

    Herbert River Cherry Fruit 

    Herbert River Cherry - antidesma dallachyanum

Herbert river cherry is a small to medium sized Australian tree. This tree is the best of the Antidesma species. It is dioecious, but a single female plant will bear a small amount of fruit. Sweeter than the bignay, the fruit are large and black. Grows well in Florida and has been grown in San Diego.

The Herbert River cherry, is a bushy tree, seldom over 25 ft (7.5 m) in height. The young shoots are slightly hairy. Mature leaves, almost hairless, are ovate to lanceolate-elliptical, 2 to 6 in (5-15 cm) long; deep-green above, bright-green beneath; thick and leathery. The odoriferous male flower spikes are hairy, generally in panicles in the leaf axils, occasionally solitary, more or less interrupted. The greenish female flowers are borne in racemes. The fruits, single or in clusters of 4 to 30, are round to obovoid, up to 3/4 in (2 cm) wide, rich-red when unripe, dark purple-red (nearly black) when ripe and very acid. They ripen fairly evenly in the cluster.

This is a medium to large, evergreen tree native to northern Australia with simple leaves and clusters of edible fruit that turn black when ripe and are sweet with pleasent acidity. They can be eaten fresh or used for making juices and jams. With ample moisture, good light and a tropical or frost free warm temperate climate, it is a fast growing tree and can start fruiting within 5 to 6 years.

In Australia, the trees bloom from December to February and again in September and the fruits mature in their fall and winter months. In Florida, blooming takes place from April to June and the fruit is in season in September and October.  The extracted juice is very dark-red, nearly black, but it yields, with the addition of pectin, a deep-red jelly.  The tree, like that of the bignay, is prone to infestation by mealybugs and scale insects and associated sooty mold.

The tree is native to coastal North Queensland, growing on the borders of rain forests and on the banks of streams and lagoons. Seeds were imported by the University of Florida Agricultural Research and Education Center, Homestead, Florida, in 1941 and the seedlings grew and bore well. The seeds germinate readily and seedlings begin to fruit at about 6 years of age when they may be 8 ft (2.4 m) tall. Multiplication may also be by cuttings, air-layering or grafting. The grafted plants are available in some nurseries but they did not become popular and the species is still rare.

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