Black Star Surinam Cherry (Eugenia Uniflora)

[John Smith]

can a grafted Black Star cutting revert back to the common red tart variety ??

I bought a potted cutting of a Black Star from E-Bay last year
for my "donor" plant when it is old enough to harvest scions from.
I have about a dozen or so of the regular red Eugenia Uniflora
Surinams that I raised from seeds that will receive the grafts.
The E-Bay seller stated strongly that "sometimes" the Black Star
will revert back to the common red tart variety.
now I have been thinking that this "may be" his way of selling the common
red variety and passing them off as Black Star and then in 3 years when it
possibly fruits, I will think it reverted back to the common Eugenia Uniflora.

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[brian]

Sounds suspect to me.  Does it have a graft line?  If it does I can’t imagine bothering to graft an inferior variety to save cash. 

[John Smith]

Brian - there is no graft line.  it is not a grafted plant.
it is a rooted cutting from a Black Star that had been grafted.
and to my understanding, cuttings that have been rooted will
keep the DNA of the grafted Black Star ?
since I only purchased the one plant, I will not lose any sleep over it
if that is not the way it works. . . . just disappointed is all.
and will purchase grafting scions from reputable sources when they are available.

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[brian]

Sorry I missed that it was a cutting.  It makes no sense that it could revert to a common type.  Perhaps the seller is misunderstood or describing natural variance based on growing conditions as if it were a genetic change.  Black Suriname Cherries are common enough that it seems more likely to be a misunderstanding or miscommunication than some attempt to cheap out by selling a fake product.

[Pademelon1]

A very unlikely, but possible scenario (if you are grafting it) is that you could form a graft chimaera. This is when the rootstock grows through the scion material so that both the scion, rootstock and an intermediate form can be present in the canopy. Creates some really weird plants, but extremely rare.

[NateTheGreat]

I think it's possible to root E. uniflora from cuttings, but generally not done. Mutations like variagation or cresting can revert. If you grow seeds from a black uniflora, what I've read is most are black-fruited but some are red. That's probably what's going on.

[brian]

When I saw many Surinam Cherry trees in Hawaii they all had fruit that began red and turned black as they ripened. I'm not sure if this is the same type or if the "black" type fruit starts out black even when immature.