This thorny living fence also makes delicious fruit. The Natal Plum (Carissa macrocarpa) (aka The Large Num Num) is not a well-known fruit globally, but is often enjoyed and sold in local markets. The fruit is good raw, or it can be made into sauces, jellies, jams and pies.
A native of South Africa, the Natal Plum is now grown in many areas of the tropics and subtropics. It is a small-medium thorny shrub with glossy attractive green leaves that produces bright white flowers for months at a time and afterwards a fruit that is edible. The flowers produce a sweet fragrance that gets more intense at night, when its normal pollinators would visit it. It has been identified as a plant that could increase food security and nutrition in Africa. Traditional medicinal uses exist for the whole plant, mostly focused at cough and venereal disease, but the fruit is also used for HIV and hepatitis, and leaves for Diarrhea in livestock. There is also much research interest into its antioxidant compounds.
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