Coccoloba uvifera (L.) L.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Polygonaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Shrub or small tree 2-15 m tall; bark grayish, smooth, peeling off in irregular plates, leaving a reddish brown bark underneath; stems cylindric, puberulent, pilose, or papillose. Leaf blades 7- 21 x 6.5-26 cm, reniform, rounded, or obovate, thick-coriaceous, glabrous except for numerous hairs along the vein sides, the tertiary venation finely reticulate, inconspicuous, the apex rounded or notched, the base cordate to rounded, usually with one or both lobes over the petiole, the margins entire to slightly crenate, revolute; petioles 7-10 mm long, stout, pilose to papillose, reddish- tinged; ocrea 7-10 mm long, puberulent, coriaceous, persistent, reddish-tinged. Flowers greenish yellow to whitish, 3-4 at ocreate, congested nodes of terminal racemes; axes 10-25 cm long, puberulent to papillose; pedicels 2-2.5 mm long. Perianth ca. 3 mm long, the hypanthium tapering, ca. 1 mm long, crowned by 5 spreading, oblong lobes 2-2.2 mm long. Achene inversely pear-shaped to obovoid, 1.4-2 cm long, covered by a fleshy, juicy (edible) hypanthium, that turns purple at maturity.
Distribution and Ecology - A common tree of coastal fronts and sandy beaches, also inland in dry forests. Chocolate Hole (A786), Susannaberg (A4156). Also on all other Virgin Islands; a pan-Caribbean species.
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Discussion
Common name: seagrape.