Photo: Omar hoftun — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Survives zone 8 through 9
Harvest calendar
Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.
A narrow Madeiran endemic, semi-evergreen and unusually tree-like for a Vaccinium (to 6 m); locally called "uva-da-serra" (mountain grape), it has essentially no presence in mainstream horticulture outside Madeira.
- Hardiness
- Zone 8–9
- Habit
- Shrub
- Edible part
- Fruit
- Ripens
- July–Sept
- Mature size
- Semi-evergreen shrub or small tree 1.5–6 m
- Light
- Full sun to partial shade — subalpine shrubbery and forest edge
- Soil pH
- 4.0–5.5 — ⚠ STRICTLY ACID-LOVING (calcifuge). Will die on alkaline soil; use ericaceous compost + rainwater
- Environment
- Laurel forest
- Native range
- Endemic to Madeira and Porto Santo (Portugal), common at roughly 800–1,700 m elevation in subalpine shrubbery, degraded pasture and coniferous forest edges — the most narrowly endemic species in this genus on the site.
- Status
- Wild
- Years to fruit
- 2–3 yrs
- Growth speed
- Slow
- Spacing
- 200 cm (79 in) apart — about 4 m² (43 sq ft) per plant
- Leaf shape
- Oblong to elliptic leaves 2.5–7 cm long with a pointed tip; sources disagree on whether it's deciduous or semi-evergreen, and it often flushes dark red in autumn.
- Root system
- Shallow and fibrous, almost entirely in the top 30–40 cm, and unusual in having few or no root hairs — the plant relies on ericoid mycorrhizal fungi for most of its water and nutrient uptake instead. Two practical consequences: it dries out fast and wants steady moisture, and it resents cultivation around the base, so mulch rather than hoe.
- Fruit description
- Blue-black berries up to about 12 × 10 mm, juicy, with a tart-sweet flavor.
- Propagation
- By seed (sow fresh ripe seed immediately in a lime-free mix; stored seed benefits from about 3 months of cold stratification around 4°C) or vegetatively.
- Pollination
- Self-fertile, better with a 2nd cultivar
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.
Growing guide
Growing tips. Semi-evergreen and notably tree-like for the genus, reaching 1.5–6 m — far larger than the other species here. Hardiness is thinly and somewhat conflictingly documented: generally rated UK zone 9, but reported to survive at Kew Gardens (zone 7–8) with woodland-garden shelter, consistent with Madeira's mild subtropical-highland climate giving it little true chilling requirement. This is genuinely one of the least-documented species in the genus — treat growing advice as provisional.
Grow journal
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