This plant started its life many years ago as a cherished potted shrub of friends. I admired the
tree for many years, and they ultimately tired of my asking to buy it and one day they brought the tree to my home and gave it to me as a gift.

At that time it stood six or seven feet tall and 3-4 feet wide. It was an unruly mess, but it had a nice basal trunk. I proceeded to shorten the tree to only two stubs about 6 inches tall, and threw away 3 large waste bags of branches and foliage. The tree responded very well to the aggressive trimming and produced new foliage. From these "breaks" a new apex and structure were created.

The Carissa has lovely white star-like flowers which are very fragrant. It has never set fruit on these flowers. The fruit is claimed to be edible. Click here to see the beautiful flower. Sorry you can't get its fragrance.

There are nasty thorns contained inside the foliage but I trim these off as they appear. The plant prefers to dry well between waterings and resents having "wet feet". This tree is 17 inches tall and has a 2.5 inch  trunk diameter.