You don’t see a lot of sweet lime (also called lime berry) growing on Barbados any more, but if you do, chances are it will be in the form of an impenetrable hedge. I remember as a child going to an aunt’s home to visit, and she had one in her front yard shaped like two halves of a capital C. As kids we’d try to jump over it as it wasn’t very tall, but there were many instances of not quite making it over and getting skinned shins instead.
When we moved into our own new home in the early seventies, my parents painstakingly collected seedlings from my aunt and started their own hedge, which is still in place and is now about six feet tall and two feet wide. Sweet lime makes for a very tight hedge, so excellent for security, and even moreso because of the short sharp thorns.
The leaves are small, roundish and dark green in colour, and it puts out a small green berry that turns red as it ripens, and is full of seeds. The birds eat the berries and spread the seeds in their droppings, so seedlings can be found sprouting up in all sorts of odd places. I think we used to eat the berries as children too, and they were sticky and gluey with a limey flavour and citrusy smell.
There’s not so much sweet lime growing nowadays, and in fact, besides the one at my mother’s home, I can’t think of any that I’ve come across personally in recent years - my aunt removed hers some years ago. The scarcity of this shrub is probably not helped by the fact that slugs and Giant African Snails love to feed on the leaves.
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