Re: Coffee Berry -Rhamnus californica

Barry, I have a couple old and straggly native Calif. coffeeberries on my
property, and a few volunteers have shown up in my garden beds.  I assume
these were from berries passed through some bird's gut, as I haven't had
success from planting the berries myself (I haven't gone to the trouble of
taking the pulp off or scarifying or stratifying or anything else).  I pinch
back the branch tips several times each growing season and they do make
subtly attractive specimens.  The leaves have a nice texture from the deep
pinnate veins.  I haven't eaten the berries; another Rhamnus, R. purshiana,
is the source of "chittam" bark, commercially collected along the Pacific
coast and processed into a laxative.  So it would make sense that
coffeeberry has similar properties.
-----Original Message-----
From: Barry Garcia <Barry_Garcia@monterey.edu>
To: theclan@cruzio.com <theclan@cruzio.com>
Cc: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Date: Tuesday, September 28, 1999 10:55 PM
Subject: Re: Coffee Berry -Rhamnus californica


>theclan@cruzio.com writes:
>>Anyone had any experience with this native californian, eating the
>>berries or propogating from such?
>>This seems to me to be a truly mediterranean type bush (actually almost a
>>small tree in form)
>>and I wonder why it isn't used more in landscaping?
>>Has anyone had any experiences with growing it?
>
>Yes, they are edible but they have a large seed inside, and taste bitter.
>They also have a very slimy mucilaginous texture to them. I can't eat more
>than two or three because of the sliminess of the insides, and when I do i
>suck on the fruits and not chew them. The fruit is more of a novelty for
>the cofeelike flavor than anything else. I guess if you were starving you
>can eat them to survive. I also wonder why the plants arent in clutivation
>more often.
>
>
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