Coccoloba is a genus of 177 species of flowering plants in the family Polygonaceae, which is native to the Neotropics. There is no overall English name for the genus, although many of the individual species have widely used common names.
Range
The genus is native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, in South America, the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico, with two species extending into Florida.
Description
Coccoloba arborescens
Species in the genus are shrubs, trees, and lianas, and are mostly evergreen. The leaves are alternate, often large (to very large in some species; up to 2.5m (8 feet) long in C. gigantifolia), with the leaves on juvenile plants often larger and of different shape to those of mature plants. The flowers are produced in spikes. The fruit is a three-angled achene, surrounded by an often brightly coloured fleshy perianth, edible in some species, though often astringent. Species in the genus have been characterized as dioecious, but this is unclear. Trioecy has been documented in C. cereifera.
