This attractive shrub is common in local gardens. At the moment they are covered in flowers.
It is an evergreen shrub. Native to Asia with leathery shiny dark-green leaves and sprays of white or pink flowers (5 petals with cluster of stamens in the centre) which are followed by small purple or black fruits. These are tough wind-resistant shrubs which will grow in any soil. Propogate from cuttings or watch for self-sown seedlings.
A web-search found a comment that ‘fruit is edible when cooked and can be used to make jam’.
We want to have only food-producing plants in our garden and are trying to decide whether to keep or replace this plant which is healthy and providing a good screen from our neighbours at the back. In the plant book it says it grows to 1.5m but our would be more like 3m (have heard that things grow a lot taller in SE QLD).
Does anyone have any experience eating the fruit or making jam out of it?