Coffee plum

Photo: Mazhar Zarif — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 9 and warmer

Winter protection required

Harvest calendar

Ripens: Variable through the year in its native climate

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Round, dark red to nearly black fruit eaten fresh once soft, or made into jam and preserves — each fruit holds 7–12 hard seeds. Trunk and branches carry sharp spines. Rated USDA zone 9-11 by its main source, making it the better-documented end of this genus for cold tolerance — still worth growing in a large container rather than the open ground at the cold edge of that range.

Hardiness

Zone 9+

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Variable through the year in its native climate

Mature size

1.5–6 m; large shrub to small tree

Light

Full sun to part shade

Soil pH

5.5–7.0

Environment

Lowland to montane rainforest

Native range

Southeast Asia, naturalized across much of tropical Asia — lowland and mountain rainforest.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

3–4 yrs

Growth speed

Moderate

Spacing

500 cm (197 in) apart — about 25 m² (269 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Long-pointed, thin and glossy, on a spiny trunk

Root system

Spreading and suckering, and shallow enough to resent drought. Worth siting with the spines in mind — trunk and lower branches carry sharp ones, and suckers arrive armed.

Fruit description

Round, about 2.5 cm, pink to dark red or nearly black, juicy, 7–12 hard seeds per fruit

Propagation

Seed, or semi-hardwood cuttings.

Pollination

Insect-pollinated; dioecious — needs both a male and female plant to fruit.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.