Winter didn’t kill this perennial even though it dipped below freezing. The fruits grown from seed are highly variable and mine taste like sugary battery acid.
Well, it’s fruiting this summer and I was letting the birds have it (even they rejected it). The berries ripened until they fell off the plant. I tried the fallen berries and there is almost no caustic taste. Yay?
@jblue@plants interesting! Sounds like the berries of the alligator juniper. If you pick them from the tree it's like having a slug of paint thinner. If you eat them off the ground, they taste like red licorice.
@jblue@plants
Yeah, a lot like twizzlers. (At least in my mind 😁)
If you're going to plant a juniper, you might as well go with an alligator. They're the only kind with edible fruit. But, they are full size trees so it'll be a while before you get a harvest. They're great trees though. Drought, cold and heat tolerant and they make great shade.
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