Camu camu
Myrciaria dubia
Sour red berries with more vitamin C than almost any fruit; grows happily in wet ground.
Hardiness: zones 10 to 12
Light: full sun
Size: about 12 ft tall, 8 ft wide
Harvest: December to March
From: Amazon floodplains
Here: Too tender to overwinter outdoors on the Lake Erie shore (zone 6b to 7a): grow it in a pot and bring it in, or treat it as an annual.
Good for: food, wildlife.
Native to: Tropical South America. Hardy in zones 10 to 12.
The story
Camu camu grows on the flooded riverbanks of the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon, gathered from canoes by ribeirinho families who sell the sour, vitamin-rich berries in Iquitos markets; it holds more vitamin C than any other known fruit.
Planting
Full sun, wet or flooded rich soil, heat, and humidity; a shrub for a pond edge in the wet tropics. Plant seed fresh.
Growing
Keep wet; it flowers after the floods recede. Prune lightly to keep it in reach.
Harvest and use
Berries ripen red-purple in the high-water season; pick from a boat if you have one. Too sour fresh; juice with sugar, or dry and powder.
What to watch for
Drought and cold.
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More tropical and subtropical food plants
General guidance, not professional advice. Conditions vary by yard and year; for local specifics ask your county extension office. Never eat a wild plant you cannot identify with certainty. Traditional uses are shared as history, not medical advice. © 2026 Sean Priest · Irie Orchard. Terms & credits · Privacy · Home