Botanical name: Pereskia aculeata    Family: Cactaceae (Cactus family)
Synonyms: Cactus pereskia, Pereskia pereskia

Barbados Gooseberry is a scrambling vine growing up to 10 m high in trees, with stems 2-3 cm thick. Younger stems have hooked thorns and older stems have clusters of woody spines. The leaves are 4-11 cm long and 1.5-4 cm broad, simple, elliptic-ovate, entire, and deciduous in the dry season. Strongly fragrant flowers are white, cream or pinkish, 2.5-5 cm across and numerous, produced in panicles. The fruit is a rounded berry, translucent white to pink, yellow, orange or red, and 2 cm across. The leaves are edible, containing 20-30% of protein in the dry leaf matter. The fruit are also edible, containing numerous small seeds. It somewhat resembles the gooseberry in appearance and is of excellent flavor. Barbados Gooseberry is native to the Caribbean region and North America. cultivated elsewhere.
Medicinal uses: The leaves are valued for their softening and soothing nature and are applied on inflammations and tumours.

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The flower labeled Barbados Gooseberry is ...