Eugenia uniflora L.

Horticultural & Botanical History

There are many commercial varieties.  Probably first cultivated in Britain in 1759 by Phillip Miller.  ‘The Plinia pedunculata, in its foliage and flowers, bears a great resemblance to some varieties of the Myrtle, of which genus Linnaeus, following others, at first made it a species; on this account it may be regarded, in a certain degree, as an ornamental plant, it is moreover a very rare one: its flowers yield a considerable fragrance, much like that of the Orange blossom.  It is a native of the Brazils, and also of Jamaica, according to Dr. Brown, and others: was cultivated here by Mr. Miller, in 1759.  Our drawing was made January 18, 1799, from a plant in the tan stove of the Apothecaries Garden at Chelsea, which has been there a great number of years, and is now become a small tree, covered every year with a profusion of blossoms, which in some seasons have been followed by fruit.’  [BM t.473/1800].

History at Camden Park

Listed only in the 1857 catalogue [T.443/1857].  Several mature specimens grow in the gardens today, probably from the original planting.

Notes

Recorded as a weed in coastal Queensland but not in NSW.

Eugenia uniflora O.Berg (c.1898) = Eugenia lineatifolia Mattos, syn. Eugenia bergii Nied.