PlantFiles: Sea Grape
Coccoloba uvifera

Easy to grow and propagate this plant requires very little maintenance. The fruit, which clusters like grapes, is edible but not to everyone's taste.

Here in Southwest Florida one simply cuts off a two foot section from the top and plants the cut end in the ground. Instant new Sea Grape.

The down side is that these plants grow like crazy down here and they are messy. The leaves are large and after they turn from green to red they fly like frisbees all over the place. Considering the size, the fallen leaves can block out sun from smaller plants and strain relationships with neighbors.

Older specimens like mine have a trunk up to six inches with branches up to four inches. Keeping them trimmed down to waist or so height produces a tight cluster of leaves suitable for hedges. Letting them grow produces a 'shade tree' (or arbor if you have them planted right).

Was not sure it would grow in the Houston area however my plant has done fine over the past 3 years. It has even survived the freak snow we had here a year ago near christmas. Each winter is has died back but only about a foot from the tips and this year actually produced fruit! Near my pool it adds an awesome tropical feel!

Growing up, our neighbor had large tree right by the seawall, which provided some much appreciated shade. The fruit was tart making good jelly. It propogated easily, always lots of seedling sprouting up, which, I suppose could become invasive if not kept after, and the seeds were most unpleasant on bare feet in the pathway.

Sea Grape is one of the best native plants in South Florida. It is very easy to grow, requires little water as it grows naturally in the wild, provides food and shelter for wildlife, and is very attractive with lush foilage. It is native and grows naturally along the beaches on coastal dunes and in the tropical hardwood hammocks of coastal central and southern Florida from Cape Canaveral and St. Augustine as well as Tampa Bay southward throughout the Keys. It is very salt-tolerant and extremely hardy, as it grows exposed on the dunes along the coast to harsh winds and strong hurricanes. It's berries provide food for native wildlife and it's leaves and branches provide shelter for people and wildlife. I have a young, about 4-feet-tall sea grape in my backyard and it is growing very well, even though I don't water it at all! It grows very quickly and is getting lots of new leaves, which are reddish-orange when brand new or freshly sprouted from the branch. It can tolerate a wide range of soils and even grow far inland (but not as far west as the Everglades!). I'd recommend this plant very much for your yard, and if you have a wildlife or native plant garden, this plant is exceptional!

MORE INFORMATION - The sea grape is actually a tree that can grow up to 40 feet tall but can be maintained as a hedge as long as it's trimmed frequently or cut back. The plant often forms ridges on coastal dunes, highest on the top of the dune, then shrinking in size as it extends down the dune toward the sea and shoreline. It is found in zones 9, 10a, 10b, 11 and below.

One sees this plant everywhere on the long barrier islands off of St. Petersburg and Clearwater in Pinellas County, Florida. The barrier islands are mostly overdeveloped, and you can only see the beach behind the multi-story condos, hotels and restaurants from the minuscule public access parks, where you have to run back and put a quarter into the parking meters every few minutes.

So this plant is a good choice for this commercial area, as the plants are pretty low maintenance, and can grow to great size--up to 30 feet, but usually kept lower--as they provide some greenery, along with the palm trees, in an otherwise sea of concrete and asphalt.

I've also seen sea grape used in back yards in St. Petersburg--along alleyways to hide parked cars and garbage cans, and as part of dense, low-maintenance, evergreen shrub borders, where the plants help provide privacy for small back yards in the most densely populated place in Florida. In these types of areas the large, fleshy, maybe even coarse looking leaves, and huge size of the plant are attractive, but I wouldn't plant one in a flower bed with prized sub-tropical and tropical plants.

This is a common plant in Rio de Janeiro, mostly planted along the oceanic avenues.

I like the reddish veins on some leaves, but besides it, I don´t find it so atractive. There are prettier trees that could be planted on their place. And I´ve seen a lot of them in trouble with aphids.

The Sea Grape, native to the sandy seashores of tropical America, usually forms a low shrub but may be a spreading tree 30 to 35 feet (10 m) in height. The stiff, roundish leaves may measure 8 by 7 inches (20 by 17.5 cm) and have prominent, reddish veins. The attractive appearance of the leaves on the flexuous branches and the resistance of the plant to damage by salt make it valuable as an ornamental for oceanside homes. Small white flowers are produced on slender, hanging racemes 4 to 10 inches long (10 to 25 cm).As many as 40 or 50 fruits may be found on a single cluster, giving the appearance of a bunch of grapes.
The velvety fruits are globose to pear-shaped, about 3/4 of an inch long (2 cm), and range from dark purple, to purple, to occasionally off white. The edible pulp surrounds a globular seed with a short sharp point on the top. The pulp is sweetish-acid in flavor and is eaten out of hand or is used to make an excellent jelly.The sea grape can be readily propagated by seeds and by cuttings of ripe wood.