Delicious and loaded
with Vitamin C

The Barbados cherry (Acerola) is a large, densely branched shrub. The plant can be pruned so it will form a central trunk and can grow as a small tree.  The shape varies from a low and spreading habit to more upright and open. Leaves are shiny and light to deep evergreen, leaves will vary in size from 1 to 3 inches and are rounded in shape. This small tree or shrub features, attractive flowers that vary in color from pale pink to rose. Flowers appear in April and flowering continues throughout the summer and often into the fall. 

Soft, juicy, thin-skinned Barbados Cherry fruit are light red to deep crimson when mature. The outer shape somewhat resembles a small apple, but inside the fruit  are several very un-apple like seed.  The fully mature fruit average about an inch in diameter.  Barbados cherries are borne in leaf axils, singly or in clusters of 2 or 3. The shrub may have 3 to 5 crops per year, from May to November, with the largest crops appearing during the summer. In frost-free areas it is almost everbearing.

The fruit is rather tart but  some selections are sub-acid to almost sweet.  Inside, the flesh is yellow-orange and very high in vitamin C  (ascorbic acid). The Vitamin C content of one fruit ranges from 1000 to 2000 mg per 100 grams of edible fully ripe fruit.   More acid fruit has higher vitamin C content, and the amount of this compound is much higher in partially ripe fruit.  Sometimes a single Barbados 


Cherry fruit can supply the daily adult requirement of vitamin C. 

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 Fertilizer Recommendations for Acerola
Trees/bushes in the landscape.

Acerola in the landscape are fertilized 
with either an 8-3-9-3 or you could use 10-10-10-3 or similar. 

Young trees: 1/4 lb every 2 months

Mature trees: 2-4 lbs is applied 3 times per year. 
Maximum of 15 lbs per year.
Over fertilization often forces mostly vegetative 
growth and little fruit production.
Do not fertilize in winter!