Fuchsia Berry (various Fuchsia species). The color fuchsia, a vivid
bluish or purplish red, actually takes its name from the ornamental
fuchsia shrubs that honor Leonhard Fuchs, a sixteenth century physician
and botanist who wrote a noted herbal of medicinal and edible plants. The
Fuchsia genus contains some 100 species, principally of Mexican and South
American origin, and can have purple, red, yellow, or white flowers. Not
many of these fuchsias are valued for their fruit-especially not the showy
types that have been bred for their beautiful flowers over the years-but
several species do have interesting, edible berries. One such is the
Peruvian shrub Fuchsia corymbiflora, a climber that grows up to 6 feet
tall, has showy scarlet flowers, and bears purplish berries that resemble
figs in taste. In all but the southernmost areas of the United States this
species must grown in the greenhouse, its culture the same as for any
fuchsia. Another species, the New Zealand native Fuchsia excorticata. An unusual, ornamental shrub that
produces flowers on its trunk right down the ground and has a purplish
sheen when in bloom because its flowers pollen is bright blue, this
species bears subacid, purple black berries. Its blue pollen was used
Maori girls as facial makeup.
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