Scientific Name: Exocarpos nanus
Common Name: alpine native-cherry
Family Classification (Clade): Eudicots
Family: Santalaceae
Form Description: Prostrate dwarf shrub with many spreading branches; leaves reduced to minute triangular scales.
Flowers: Minute yellow-green flowers, sometimes with red, in axillary clusters of 2-4 together.
Fruit: Nut – seed is contained in hard nuts that become green to red-brown on maturity, attached to a succulent bright red elongated stalk to about 0.5 cm long; often profuse.
Municipality
Plant Communities
Habitat Notes
Occasional in tussock grassland and grassy heaths. In wet places on the mountains of the north and north-east.
Site Tolerance
Moist
Soil Tolerance
Loam, Nutrient-poor, Well-drained
General Notes
Some growers recommend seedlings be planted out where Casuarinaceae, Fabaceae, Myrtaceae or Proteaceae family are growing. One successful method from seed is feeding to hens, extracting from droppings, and sowing with Themeda triandra (kangaroo grass).
Propagation Calendar
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Flowering Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec -
Seed Collecting Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec -
Sowing Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec -
Cutting Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Propagation Method
Seed Information
Seed Collection
Difficult to grow from seed. Harvest fruits individually by hand.
Seed Treatment Method
Standard Scatter seed thinly on to damp potting mix. Hold seed in place by covering with more potting mix to approximately the depth of the seed size.
Seed Storage Life
Short
Seed Treatment Notes
Seed has short viability period; use fresh seed. Because of the semi-parasitic root development, it may be advisable to provide a host from the potting-on stage. Small shrubs or native grasses may be suitable hosts.