Barbadoes cherry, a genus of the trigynia order, belonging to the decandria clas of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 23rd order, Tribilatae. The calyx is pentaphyllous, with meliferous pores on the outside at the base. There are five petals, roundish, and unguiculated; the berry unilocular, and trispermous. There are eight or ten species, all of them shrubby evergreens of the warm parts of America, rising with branchy stems from 8 or 10 to 15 or 20 feet high, ornamented with oval and lanceolate entire leaves, and large pentapetalous flowers, succeeded by red, cherry-shaped, eatable berries, of an acid and palatable flavour; and which, in the West Indies, where they grow naturally, are used instead of cherries. Three of the species are reared in our gardens, and make a fine variety in the stove. They retain their leaves all the year round; and begin to flower about the end of autumn, continuing in constant succession till the spring; after which they frequently produce and ripen their fruit, which commonly equals the size of a small cherry. The flowers are of a pale-red or purple colour. These plants are propagated by seed, which must be sown in spring, in pots of rich earth; then plunge them in a hot-bed; and when the plants are three or four inches high, prick them in separate small pots, give water, and plunge them in the barkbed of the stove; where after they have remained a year or two, they may be placed in any part of it. They may even be placed in the open air during a month or two of the hottest weather in summer; but must be carefully supplied with water during the whole year.