Acerola
വെസ്റ്റ് ഇന്ത്യൻ ചെറി
Malpighia emarginata DC.
- light
- Full sun
- water
- —
- tall
- 2.5 m
- wide
- —
Malpighiaceae
Also called Barbados Cherry, West Indian Cherry, Barbados cherry, West Indian cherry, Wild crapemyrtle
Formerly Malpighia berteroana, Malpighia lancifolia, Malpighia retusa, Malpighia umbellata
When it flowers
Flowers June to February in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Shrub or treeKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Seasonally dry tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Mexico to N. ColombiaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun (6 h or more)Read from Wikipedia, one source
- Height
- 2.0 m to 3.0 mRead from Wikipedia, one source
- Flowers
- Red, pinkRead from Wikipedia, one source
- Coldest it survives
- -1 °C (USDA zone 10a)Read from Wikipedia, one source
Not known yet: spread, water, heat, hottest it survives.
Grow it with
Suggested by a rule, not by a gardener: same climate (kew), flowering when this plant does not (inaturalist), and a different shape.
Apple-of-PeruFlowers March to May, when this does not
Arabian jasmineFlowers March to May, when this does not
Barbados gooseberryFlowers March to May, when this does not
Barbados lilyFlowers March to May, when this does not
Billygoat weedFlowers March to May, when this does not
Black-eyed Susan vineFlowers March to May, when this does not
In other languages (12)
- Spanish
- Escobillo, Acerola, granadilla
- myn
- sak-pah
- Portuguese
- Acerola, acerola, azerola
- Chinese
- 大果黃褥花, 西印度櫻桃, 印第安櫻桃
- root
- siwiz, kersi, Siriz
- Japanese
- アセロラ, バルバドスサクラ, バルバドスチェリー
- Turkish
- Barbados Kirazı, aserola
- Chinese (China)
- 微凹美樱桃
- Indonesian
- Sianci
- French
- Cerisier des Antilles
- Slovak
- malpígia čerešňová
- Finnish
- Barbadoksenakerola
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Malpighia emarginata (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.