Create a dense, elegant landscape with Carissa, an evergreen ornamental shrub admired for its glossy dark-green leaves, fragrant star-shaped white flowers, and decorative red fruit. Its naturally compact and branching growth makes it ideal for hedges, borders, entrances, containers, and formal garden designs.
Carissa is well adapted to Saudi Arabia’s hot and sunny climate. It tolerates heat, coastal conditions, and periods of dryness once established, while regular pruning helps maintain a neat and compact shape.
Plant Details:
- Common name: Carissa / Natal Plum
- Arabic name: كاريسا
- Arabic pronunciation: Karissa
- Scientific name: Carissa macrocarpa
- Family: Apocynaceae
- Plant type: Evergreen flowering and fruiting shrub
- Foliage: Thick, glossy, dark-green leaves
- Flowers: Fragrant, white, star-shaped flowers
- Fruit: Oval fruit that turns red when mature
- Light: Full sun to partial shade
- Watering: Low to moderate
- Soil: Fertile, well-drained sandy or loamy soil
- Climate: Hot, sunny, and coastal
- Growth rate: Moderate
- Suitable for: Hedges, borders, entrances, containers, courtyards, and landscaping
- Maintenance: Low to moderate
Care Tips:
- Plant in full sun for dense growth, abundant flowering, and better fruit development.
- Water regularly while the roots are becoming established.
- Allow the upper soil to dry slightly between watering.
- Increase watering during prolonged extreme heat.
- Avoid waterlogged soil.
- Prune after flowering or fruiting to maintain the desired shape.
- Apply a balanced fertilizer during the active growing season.
- Wear gloves when pruning because the branches may have sharp thorns.
- Protect young plants from frost and prolonged cold weather.
Safety Note: Carissa may have sharp, forked thorns and produces milky sap that can irritate sensitive skin. Unripe fruit and other plant parts should not be consumed. Nursery plants should not be used for food unless confirmed as food-grade and grown without unsuitable pesticides.
Note: The supplied plant may vary slightly in height, shape, fullness, flowering, and fruiting according to the season and natural growth. The pot shown is a nursery container and may differ from the delivered container.