Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_eugenia_uniflora
Surinam Cherry
Eugenia uniflora
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About Surinam Cherry
Surinam Cherry (Eugenia uniflora) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to eastern and southern Brazil through southern South America in subtropical forest and shrubland. A 1980 forestry ledger documents Kauaʻi planting in 1958; it does not establish current survival, reproduction, or naturalization.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence. The 1918–1959 Kauaʻi reforestation working register records 6 plants under Eugenia uniflora across 1 entries dated 1958. These are recorded planting quantities, not counts of surviving trees, and they do not by themselves establish current persistence, naturalization, or ecological impact. Source: Kauaʻi Reforestation Plantings 1918–1959 working register (user-supplied; reconciled 6 October 2026).
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Eugenia uniflora
- Common names
- Surinam Cherry · Pitanga
- Other names
- Eugenia uniflora · Surinam cherry · Pitanga
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Current survival on Kauaʻi, number of trees, occupied habitat, flowering or fruiting, recruitment, population trend, and ecological effects are all unconfirmed; no naturalization or invasive severity is inferred from the historical planting record.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- White bisexual flowers require pollination and mature into fleshy ribbed fruits. Animals can disperse the seeds; Kauaʻi flowering, dispersers, viability, and recruitment are unknown.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Shrub or small tree
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Surinam Cherry (Eugenia uniflora) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to eastern and southern Brazil through southern South America in subtropical forest and shrubland. A 1980 forestry ledger documents Kauaʻi planting in 1958; it does not establish current survival, reproduction, or naturalization.