Syzygium australe

Scrub cherry, Scrub Cherry

Family: Myrtaceae · Type: shrub · Not Native

Scrub cherry is a naturalized shrub found in San Diego County in disturbed urban riparian areas at elevations below 50 meters. Flowering with white flowers in small clusters, this plant produces round petals 3 to 5 millimeters in diameter. Growing with branchlets that have distinctive 4-winged or 4-ribbed tips that merge in pairs to form small pockets near nodes, it develops smooth tan bark that flakes with age. Its leaves are obovate or elliptic, 3 to 9 centimeters long with an acute or abruptly pointed apex, typically 2.2 to 2.8 times longer than wide. The fruit is nearly spherical, ranging from 14 to 23 millimeters long and colored red or purple.

Habitat: Rare in disturbed urban riparian areas

Elevation: < 50 m

Bioregions: SCo (San Diego Co.)

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.