Eugenia brasiliensis Lam., Myrtaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 1 (Go to the risk assessment).

Other Latin names:  Eugenia dombeyi (Spreng.) Skeels; Myrtus dombeyi Spreng.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: Brazilian cherry, Brazilian plum, grumichama, Spanish cherry

French: cerieier du Japon, cerise du Brésil, jambosier du Brésil, pruneau

Portuguese: grumixameira

Habit:  tree

Description:  "The highly ornamental tree is slender, erect, usually to 25 or 35 ft (7.5-10.5 m) high, short-trunked and heavily foliaged with opposite, oblong-oval leaves 3 1/2 to 5 in (9-16 cm) long, 2 3/8 in (5-6 cm) wide, with recurved margin; glossy, thick, leathery, and minutely pitted on both surfaces. They persist for 2 years. New shoots are rosy. The flowers, borne singly in the leaf axils, are 1 in (2.5 cm) wide; have 4 green sepals and 4 white petals, and about 100 white stamens with pale-yellow anthers. The long-stalked fruit is oblate, 1/2 to 3/4 in (1.25-2 cm) wide; turns from green to bright-red and finally dark-purple to nearly black as it ripens, and bears the persistent, purple- or red-tinted sepals, to 1/2 in (1.25 cm) long, at its apex. The skin is thin, firm and exudes dark-red juice. The red or white pulp is juicy and tastes much like a true subacid or sweet cherry except for a touch of aromatic resin. There may be 1 more or less round, or 2 to 3 hemispherical, hard, light-tan or greenish-gray seeds to 1/2 in (1.25 cm) wide and half as thick" (Morton, 1987).

"Slender tree 25-35 feet tall.  Leaf blades oblong-ovate, 3.5-5 inches long, 1-2.25 inches wide, leathery, glossy, both sides minutely pitted, margins recurved.  Inflorescence in terminal clusters on branches, or flowers solitary, pedicels 1.25-2 inches long.  Flower sepals 4, green; petals 4, white; stamens to 100, anthers pale yellow.  Fruit flattened-globose, 0.5-0.75 inches in diameter, red turning dark purple-black when ripe, flesh juicy, apex capped by persistent sepals.  Seeds 1-3, to 0.5 inches wide, pale tan to greenish gray"  (Staples & Herbst, 2005; p. 423).

Habitat/ecology:  The grumichama is subtropical, surviving temperatures of 26º F (-3.33º C) in Brazil. It is better suited to Palm Beach than to southern Florida. In Hawaii, the tree fruits best from sea-level to an altitude of no more than 300 ft (90 m). The grumichama does better on acid sand in Central Florida than it does on limestone in the south. It is reported to prefer deep, fertile, sandy loam. Sturrock says it grows well in rich clay in Cuba but is adversely affected by the long, dry season" (Morton, 1987).

Propagation:  Seed (Morton, 1987).

Native range:  Southern coastal Brazil (Staples & Herbst, 2005; p. 423).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1985) (p. 373) Vouchers cited: DA 1544, DA 5528
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Voucher cited: J. Florence 11506 (PAP) Probablement le seul arbre planté à Tahiti.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Parker, James L./Parsons, Bobby (2012) (p. 70) Voucher cited: J. Parker & R. Parsons BIED111 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim (year unknown) "Lining the side of the Hana Highway at Ulumalu in Haiku, and was also in nearby gulches."
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim (2011) (p. 29) East Maui. Voucher cited: Starr & Starr 090616-01 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1932) (voucher ID: BISH 59801) Taxon name on voucher: Eugenia brasiliensis
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1990) (voucher ID: BISH 595956) Taxon name on voucher: Eugenia dombeyi
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 105) Vouchers cited: MacKee 21179, Suprin 2313, Bégaud in MacKee 44146

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	introduced cultivated	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 40) Cultivated only

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
La Réunion (France) La Réunion Island	La Réunion Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Lavergne, Christophe (2006) "Cultivé/naturalisé"

Comments:  Cultivated and naturalized in La Réunion per Christophe Lavergne, pers. com.

Additional information:
Additional online information about Eugenia brasiliensis is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Eugenia brasiliensis as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Eugenia brasiliensis may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1932. Voucher specimen #BISH59801(T.C.Zschokke s.n.).

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1990. Voucher specimen #BISH595956(L.Pyle s.n.).

Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. 273 pp.

Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. 2011. Base de données botaniques Nadeaud de l'Herbier de la Polynésie Française (PAP). (online resource).

Herrera, Katherine/Lorence, David H./Flynn, Timothy/Balick, Michael J. 2010. Checklist of the vascular plants of Pohnpei with local names and uses. Allertonia, in press. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Hawai‘i. 146 pp.

Lavergne, Christophe. 2006. List des especes exotiques envahissantes a La Reunion. Unpublished manuscript (Excel file). .

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Morton, Julia F. 1987. Fruits of warm climates. Julia F. Morton, Miami, Florida.

Parker, James L./Parsons, Bobby. 2012. New plant records from the Big Island for 2010-2011. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2011. Part II: Plants. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 113:65-74.

Smith, Albert C. 1985. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 3. 758 pp.

Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral R. 2005. A tropical garden flora: plants cultivated in the Hawaiian Islands and other tropical places. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 908 pp.

Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim. 0. Forest and Kim Starr, pers. com.

Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim. 2011. New plant records from midway Atoll, Maui and Kaho‘olawe. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2009-2010. Part II: Plants. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 110:23-35.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.