Hoslundia opposita Seeds - Bird Gooseberry - Indigenous Shrub - Edible Fruit

Hoslundia opposita Seeds

Orange Bird Berry or Bird Gooseberry

Hoslundia opposita commonly known as Orange Bird Berry or Bird Gooseberry is a hardy garden plant that bears brightly coloured, tasty edible fruits and is an excellent subject for container gardening, which is a useful way to make the best of all available space. Plants are herbaceous perennials (either spreading or erect) and sometimes soft shrubs, growing up to 1.2 m high. Leaves are opposite or sometimes arranged in threes. Plants possess minute, white or creamy green-coloured flowers, starting from October to February. Fruits are fleshy, berry-like in shape and attractively orange-red in colour. Orange bird-berry plants have a widespread natural distribution, occurring both in tropical and subtropical open woodland. In southern Africa they occur naturally in areas such as Namibia and Botswana in the north, as well as in Swaziland. In South Africa, they can be found growing naturally from the coastal areas of KwaZulu-Natal, extending to Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Plants are very common throughout tropical Africa, in countries such as Senegal, Sudan and Ethiopia. People eat tasty fruits. Leaves are reported to have a strong unpleasant scent, which is alleged to repel bees and is thus utilized in the collection of honey.