Coccoloba uvifera (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Coccoloba uvifera (L.) L.

Family: Polygonaceae

Vernacular names

• Sea grape, shore grape (En)
• Rasinier bord de mer (Fr)
• Thailand: khrut thale (Bangkok).

Distribution

On sandy coasts of Central and South America. Occasionally cultivated elsewhere, e.g. in the Philippines.

Uses

The fruits are eaten raw or preserved. The peel of the fruit provides a dye. The wood is used for wood carving. The plants also have an ornamental value.

Observations

• Tree or shrub, 5-6 m tall, with orbicular leaves and white flowers in dense racemes.
• Fruit a subglobose berry, about 2 cm in diameter, purple, clustered like bunches of grapes.

Leaves become bronzy-red before falling. Especially cultivated in coastal areas because it is salt tolerant.

Selected sources

• Bailey, L.H., 1949. Manual of cultivated plants. Revised ed. Macmillan, New York. 1116 pp.

• Brown, W.H., 1951-1957. Useful plants of the Philippines. Reprint of the 1941-1943 ed. 3 Volumes. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Technical Bulletin 10. Bureau of Printing, Manila, the Philippines.

• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd ed. 2 Volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.

• Mansfeld, R. & Schultze Motel, J., 1986. Verzeichnis landwirtschaftlicher und gärtnerischer Kuturpflanzen. 2nd ed. 4 Volumes. Springer Verlag, Berlin. 1998 pp.

Authors

P.C.M. Jansen, J. Jukema, L.P.A. Oyen, T.G. van Lingen