Coccoloba swartzii Meisn.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Polygonaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Coccoloba swartzii Meisn.

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrub or small tree 1.5-7 m tall; bark grayish and smooth; stems cylindric, puberulent or glabrous. Leaf blades 6-14.5 x 4-9.5 cm, elliptic to ovate, coriaceous, glabrous, the tertiary venation reticulate, with nearly rectangular loops, 2-4 mm long, the apex obtuse to rounded, the base obtuse, rounded to nearly cordate, usually inequilateral, the margins entire to slightly wavy; petioles 5-8 mm long, nearly cylindrical, puberulent, reddishtinged; ocrea 7-10 mm long, membranous, puberulent to glabrous, reddish-tinged. Flowers greenish, paired at ocreate widely spaced nodes along terminal racemes; axes 5.5-15 cm long, puberulent; pedicels ca. 0.5 mm long, covered by the ocreate base and 2 bracteoles. Perianth ca. 2.4-2.7 mm long, the hypanthium cupshaped, ca. 0.5 mm long, crowned by 5 spreading, ovate lobes 2-2.2 mm long. Achene ovoid, 8-10 mm long, surrounded by a purple hypanthium with nearly spreading lobes.

  • Discussion

    Coccoloba barbadensis sensu Lindau, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 13: 148. 1890, non Jacq., 1760.

    Coccoloba diversifolia sensu Lindau in Urb., S y m b. Ant. 1: 223. 1899, non Jacq., 1760

    Note: A collection of this species was reported by Woodbury and Weaver (1987) in error as a hybrid between Coccoloba uvifera and C. krugii that has not yet been seen on St. John

  • Distribution

    Occasional tree of coastal and seasonal dry forests. Caneel Bay Trail (A4118), Hawksnest Beach (A3187), Ram Head Trail (W208). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Virgin Gorda; the Greater and Lesser Antilles, Central America, and northern South America.

    Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States South America| South America| Central America| West Indies| Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America|