Miracle fruit

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Miracle Fruit
Miracle.jpg
Plant Info
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ericales
Family: Sapotaceae
Genus: Synsepalum
Species: S. dulcificum

Binomial name
Synsepalum dulcificum

Synonyms
Bakeriella dulcifica

Bumelia dulcifica
Pouteria dulcifica
Richardella dulcifica
Sideroxylon dulcificum

The Miracle Fruit plant (Synsepalum dulcificum) produces berries that, when eaten, cause bitter and sour foods (such as lemons and limes) consumed later to taste sweet. The berry is also known as Miracle Berry, Magic Berry, or Flavor Berry. The plant grows in bushes up to 20 ft m high in its native habitat, but does not usually grow higher than ten feet in cultivation, and it produces two crops per year, after the end of the rainy season. It is an evergreen plant that produces small red berries, with flowers that are white and which are produced for many months of the year. The seeds are about the size of coffee beans.

Cultivation

The plant grows best at a pH as low as 4.5 to 5.8, in an environment free from frost and in partial shade with high humidity. Without the use of plant hormones the seeds have a 24 % sprouting success rate. [1] The plants first bear fruit after growing to approximately 2-3 years. [2]

References

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