Interesting Facts
Description
Family Polygonaceae
Herbs, shrubs
, or small trees
, sometimes monoecious or dioecious. Stems erect
, prostrate
, twining
, or scandent
, often with swollen nodes, striate
, grooved
, or prickly. Leaves simple
, alternate, rarely opposite or whorled
, petiolate
or subsessile
; stipules often united
to a sheath
(ocrea) . Inflorescence terminal
or axillary
, spicate
, racemose, paniculate
, or capitate. Pedicel occasionally articulate
. Flowers small, actinomorphic
, bisexual
, rarely unisexual
. Perianth 3-6-merous, in 1 or 2 series, herbaceous, often enlarged in fruit or inner tepals enlarged, with wings
, tubercles
, or spines. Stamens usually (3-) 6-9, rarely more; filaments
free
or united at base
; anthers
2-loculed, opening lengthwise; disk annular
(often lobed
) . Ovary superior, 1-loculed; styles 2 or 3, rarely 4, free or connate
at lower part. Fruit a trigonous
, biconvex
, or biconcave
achene; seed with straight or curved
embryo and copious
endosperm.
About 50 genera and 1120 species: worldwide, but primarily N temperate
with a few species in tropical regions
; 13 genera (two endemic) and 238 species (65 endemic) in China.[1]
Genus Coccoloba
Trees
or shrubs
, evergreen
; roots
woody. Stems erect
or spreading
, glabrous
or pubescent
distally. Leaves persistent
, cauline, alternate, petiolate
; ocrea often deciduous, membranous to coriaceous
; blade
lanceolate to round
or transversely elliptic
, margins
entire. Inflorescences terminal
, racemelike, pedunculate
. Pedicels present. Flowers functionally unisexual
, some plants
having only staminate flowers
, others with only pistillate
flowers, base
stipelike; perianth white or greenish white, campanulate
, glabrous; tepals 5, connate
proximally, sepaloid
, monomorphic
. Staminate
flowers 1-7 per ocreate
fascicle, perianth nonaccrescent; stamens 8; filaments
connate at base, adnate
to perianth, glabrous; anthers
white or bluish white, elliptic to round; pistil rudimentary
. Pistillate flowers 1 per ocreate fascicle, perianth accrescent and fleshy
in fruit; stamens rudimentary; styles 3, erect, distinct
; stigmas capitate. Achenes usually included
in fleshy perianth tube
, brown to black, unwinged, bluntly 3-gonous, glabrous. Seeds: embryo straight. x = 11.
Species ca.
120: tropical
, s North America (including Mexico), West Indies, Central America, South America.
The hypanthium usually completely invests the achene in both species of Coccoloba in the flora
, becoming juicy and somewhat astringent at maturity. The fruits of C.
uvifera are edible raw or are used to make jelly or wine (E. L. Little Jr. et al.
1969). Both species also enjoy some popularity in landscaping due to their attractive fruiting racemes
and evergreen foliage, which on the two species in the flora is bronze colored
when young (R. A. Howard 1958).[2]
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Spermatopsida
()
- Brongniart, 1843
- Subclass:
Caryophyllidae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Polygonanae
()
- Takhtajan Ex Reveal, 1992
- Order:
Caryophyllales
()
- Perleb, 1826
- Family:
Polygonaceae
()
- A.L. de Jussieu, 1789, nom. cons.
- knotweed, renouées
- Subfamily:
Polygonoideae
()
- Tribe:
Coccolobeae
()
- Genus:
Coccoloba
()
- P. Browne, 1756, nom. cons., orth. cons.
- Sea-grape [Greek, coccos, seed or berry, and lobos, capsule or pod, alluding to fleshy hypanthium surrounding fruit]
- Specific epithet:
ekmani
- Urb.
- Botanical name: - Coccoloba ekmani Urb.
- Specific epithet:
ekmani
- Urb.
- Genus:
Coccoloba
(
- Tribe:
Coccolobeae
(
- Subfamily:
Polygonoideae
(
- Family:
Polygonaceae
(
- Order:
Caryophyllales
(
- Superorder:
Polygonanae
(
- Subclass:
Caryophyllidae
(
- Class:
Spermatopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Similar Species
Members of the genus Coccoloba
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 15 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
C. costata (Uvilla) · C. diversifolia (Pigeon Plum) · C. krugii (Bow-Pigeon) · C. microstachya (Puckhout) · C. pallida (Pale Seagrape) · C. pubescens (Grandleaf Seagrape) · C. pyrifolia (Uvera) · C. rugosa (Ortegon) · C. sintenisii (Uvero De Monte) · C. stintenisii (Uvero De Monte) · C. swartzii (Swartz's Pigeonplum) · C. tenuifolia (Bahama Pigeonplum) · C. uvifera (Sea Grape) · C. uvifera 'Albo-Variegata' (Variegated Sea Grape) · C. venosa (False Chiggergrape)
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- Li Anjen, Kao Tsoching, Mao Zumei & Liu Yulan. 1998. Polygonaceae. In: Li Anjen, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 25(1): 1209.
Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 10764482
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15785511
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:693648-1
- International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 62064-2
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 3651116
Footnotes
- Anjen Li, Bojian Bao, Alisa E. Grabovskaya-Borodina, Suk-pyo Hong, John McNeill, Sergei L. Mosyakin, Hideaki Ohba & Chong-wook Park "Polygonaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 277. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
- Craig C. Freeman "Coccoloba". in Flora of North America Vol. 5. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
