Coral berry
Ardisia crenata
Also called Ardisia, Christmas berry and Hen's eyes
Houseplant · FloweringThe berries hang on for the best part of a year, which is why it is sold at Christmas, and it will take a dim corner better than most. It is INVASIVE in the south-eastern United States and Hawaii — do not plant it out there.
Care at a glance
- Ease
- Medium
- Water
- Every 5 daysKeep it moist — water at the first hint of dryness — don't wait for a dry pot.
- Light
- Medium to bright indirect
- Feed
- Every 30 days
- Humidity
- High
- Hardiness
- Indoors, or out for the summer RHS H1C, to 5°C
- Size
- 1 m tall · 0.6 m across
- Lifecycle
- Shrub
- Origin
- East and South-East Asia
Is it safe for pets and people?
No animal-poison authority lists this plant either way.
Nobody has checked this one against a source for us yet, so treat it as unknown rather than safe.
Neither authority names Ardisia. That is an absence and not a clean bill — and it fruits heavily, at child height, in the season it is sold.
Checked against ASPCA and RHS on 2026-09-22. Where a source says nothing, we say nothing.
A guide, not veterinary or medical advice. If a pet or a person has eaten a plant and you are worried, call your vet or doctor now — don’t wait for signs to appear. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
First signs of trouble
- Lower leaves yellowing and falling through winter, leaving bare stem under the berries. It wants humidity more than it wants light — a pebble tray or a bathroom does more than moving it to a window.Leaf drop in dry air · disorder
- Flat brown discs along the undersides of the leaf ribs and on the main stem, with a sticky shine and sooty black below them.Scale insect · pest