Natal plum
Carissa macrocarpa
A thorny, salt-tolerant hedge with fragrant flowers and cranberry-tart red fruit most of the year; eat only the ripe fruit.
Hardiness: zones 9 to 11
Light: full sun to part shade
Size: about 8 ft tall, 8 ft wide
Harvest: year-round
From: Southern Africa
Drought-hardy once established
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, pollinators.
Native to: African savannas & tropics, Cape of South Africa. Hardy in zones 9 to 11.
The story
Natal plum grows on the coastal dunes of southern Africa, where Zulu and Xhosa people ate the red fruit and the Portuguese planted it as a thorny hedge; it is a common hedge in Florida and California, where few know the fruit is edible.
Planting
Full sun or part shade, sandy drained soil, salt, wind; it takes light frost. Plant in spring; a thorny evergreen to 6 feet.
Growing
Water the first year, then little. Clip as a hedge after fruiting. It fruits and flowers at once.
Harvest and use
Fruit ripens red through the warm months; eat whole, fresh or as jam. Only the ripe fruit is edible; the rest of the plant is toxic and the sap is milky.
What to watch for
Thorns; nothing else.
See if Natal plum fits your yard
Free planner: enter your ZIP for frost dates, climate fit and a sowing calendar. No account, no ads, no tracking cookies.
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