Family: Apocynaceae

Carissa is used as a groundcover, hedge, or shrub with glossy green leaves, white fragrant flowered followed by red edible (but not tasty) fruit. It has thorns and milky sap. Spines are useful for some landscape applications, such as creating a barrier to prevent pets or humans from crossing. It will cascade over rocks or out from containers. Carissa has a good tolerance for heat, wind, and salt. Its white fragrant pinwheel flowers year-round.

Plant Uses:

• Bonsai
• Erosion control
• Fragrant
• Hedge
• Ornamental
• Privacy / screening
• Bonzai

Plant Dangers:

• Thorns or spines
• Toxic to animals and humans

High Risk Traits:

• Produces abundant, bird-dispersed fruit that can spread beyond planting sites
  
• Forms dense, thorny shrubs that can exclude native vegetation
  
• Tolerates a wide range of conditions, including drought, salt spray, and poor soils
  
• Commonly used as a hedge, increasing propagule pressure
  
• Naturalized in some coastal and lowland habitats outside its native range

Low Risk Traits:

• Slow to moderate growth rate
  
• Does not typically invade intact native forests
  
• Limited seedling establishment in shaded or closed-canopy areas
  
• Primarily spreads near cultivated or disturbed sites
  
• Widely managed in landscaping with predictable growth and form