Herb: Cheese Berry


Latin name: Cyathodes glauca


Family: Epacridaceae



Edible parts of Cheese Berry:

Fruit - raw or cooked. A sweet mealy flesh.

Description of the plant:



Plant:
Evergreen
Shrub

Height:
150 cm
(5 feet)

Habitat of the herb:

Alpine and sub-alpine zones to 1000 metres.

Propagation of Cheese Berry:

Seed - surface sow in an ericaceous soil mix, February/March in a cold frame. Do not exclude light. Germination can take place within 1 - 2 months at 18°C but often takes as long as 3 - 5 years. Scarification will reduce the germination time and 2 or 3 periods of 4 - 6 weeks cold stratification alternated with 4 weeks warm stratification can also help. Perhaps sowing the seed as soon as it is ripe would also be beneficial.The seedlings can be very slow to form roots and need to be potted up with great care. Grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first 2 growing seasons and, when large enough, plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Neither easy nor reliable. Air layering. Division of the plants as they come into growth in the spring. We have found it best not to dig up the main clump, but to tease out small divisions from the sides of the plant. Make sure that these are well rooted and pot them up in light shade in a greenhouse. Grow them on for their first summer in the greenhouse and plant them out in late spring, after the last expected frosts.

Cultivation of the herb:

Alpine and sub-alpine zones to 1000 metres.

Medicinal use of Cheese Berry:

None known

Known hazards of Cyathodes glauca:

None known

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future.