Coccoloba venosa L.

  • 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 venosa L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrub or small tree 3-10 m tall, usually many-branched from base; bark grayish, lenticellate; twigs angled, glabrous, with numerous lenticels. Leaf blades 8.5-21 x 3.2-10 cm, elliptic to oblanceolate, chartaceous, glabrous or sometimes with tufts of hairs at midvein axils, midvein very prominent, especially on lower surface, secondary veins sunken on upper surface, prominent on lower, the apex shortly acuminate, the base tapering into obtuse or slightly cordate lobes, unequal, the margins entire, revolute; petioles 5-12 mm long, slender, glabrous, brownish; ocrea 1- 1.5 cm long, membranous, early deciduous. Flowers greenish, congested along terminal, erect racemes; axes 10-19 cm long, puberulent to papillose; pedicels 1-2 mm long. Achene ca. 4.5 mm long, ovoid-triangular, dark brown, covered from base by the accrescent, fleshy, imbricate perianth lobes, which turn reddish pink at maturity.

  • Discussion

    Coccoloba nivea Jacq., Enum. Syst. PL 19. 1760

    Common names: cherry grape, chiggery grape, trible grape.

  • Distribution

    A common tree of dry to moist forests. Road to Bordeaux (A1918), Center Line Road (A2075). Also on Jost van Dyke, St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; Hispaniola, Puerto Rico (including Vieques), the Lesser Antilles, Trinidad, Tobago, and Venezuela.

    Venezuela South America| Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| West Indies| Puerto Rico South America| West Indies| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America|