Coccoloba uvifera

sea-grape

Sea-grapes vary in height depending upon where they are growing; height increases to over 25 ft. with distance from the shoreline and the plant may also be trimmed to form a nice seaside hedge. Leaves of this plant offer us a bit of fall color, as the leaves turn red before falling, in the winter months. After falling, the leaves dry out and turn a light brown, becoming a suitable canvas for small paintings.

Fruits grow in sizable grape-like clusters and can be eaten raw, made into a wine or made into a jelly, which is supposedly almost indistinguishable from apple jelly. The fruits are quite tasty straight from the tree but there is unfortunately only a relatively thin layer of fruity flesh around the large seed. The Dickenson family recorded that natives offered these fruits to them amongst others when they shipwrecked off the coast near Palm Beach in 1699. They would have had to trust that the natives meant well since for all they knew, these fruits could be deadly, but I guess they really had no choice but to trust them since they had to eat at some point.

Trees are either male or female and pollination is necessary for fruit to develop, so even if you do have a female tree, you won’t get any fruit from it unless you have an attractive male of the same species somewhere nearby. A little romantic music during flowering probably wouldn’t hurt, either.

The large leaves of this plant made convenient plates for natives. Certain things like this make me question if we’ve made much “progress” in the past few hundred years. Need a plate? Grab one off a tree. Who’s doing dishes? Nobody – the plates are 100% biodegradable, so just go ahead and Frisbee-toss them off into the brush. Sounds good to me!

A man named Oviedo recorded use of sea-grape leaves as paper by Spanish explorers in the 1500s: “The Christians did not carry with them paper and ink, they used these leaves like paper. The leaves are thick and green ... and with a pin or sharp point one can write anything on them, from one end to the other ... Thus written upon, the leaves were sent by an Indian wherever the Spaniards wished them to go.” Quite innovative and it does indeed work.

Caribbean peoples boiled the wood to produce a red dye. The tannin-rich resin taken from the tree has been used in medicine and for tanning animal hides.

A native of southern Florida coastlines, the sea-grape grows well in sandy soils, is salt tolerant, and enjoys a place in the sun.