Coccoloba uvifera |
Polygonaceae subfam. polygonoideae |
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baygrape, seagrape, shore-grape, uva de playa |
knotweed |
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Habit | Plants with branches spreading or sprawling, 2–7(–15) m. Stems: bark gray, peeling off in small white, gray, or brown flakes, inner bark light brown; twigs green and puberulent when young, gray at maturity, glabrous or pubescent. | Trees, shrubs, vines, or herbs, perennial or annual, homophyllous (heretophyllous in some species of Polygonum); root fibrous or a solid taproot, rarely tuberous. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | usually prostrate to erect, sometimes scandent, not scapose, rarely with recurved spines (some species of Persicaria), glabrous or pubescent, sometimes glandular; nodes usually swollen; branches free (adnate to stems distal to nodes and appearing to arise internodally in Polygonella); tendrils absent (except in Antigonon and Brunnichia). |
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Leaves | those of adventitious or juvenile shoots often much larger and of different shape from those of normal shoots; ocrea persistent proximally, deciduous distally, brown or reddish brown, cylindric to funnelform, 3–8 mm, coriaceous proximally, membranous distally, margins oblique, glabrous or densely puberulent; petiole 5–15 mm, puberulent to pilose; blade pale green abaxially, green to bluish green adaxially, round to transversely elliptic, (6–)10–20(–27) × 6–20(–27) cm, length equaling or less than width, coriaceous, base cordate, margins sometimes revolute, apex rounded to blunt or emarginate, abaxial surface dull, adaxial surface shiny or dull, minutely punctate, glabrous. |
deciduous (persistent in Coccoloba and sometimes more than 1 year in Antigonon and Polygonella), basal or basal and cauline, rarely cauline only, mostly alternate; ocrea present, persistent or deciduous, cylindric to funnelform, chartaceous, membranous, coriaceous, or, rarely, foliaceous or partly so; petiole present or absent, rarely articulate basally (Fagopyrum, Fallopia, Polygonella, Polygonum), rarely with extrafloral nectaries (Fallopia, Muehlenbeckia); blade simple with entire margins, rarely undulate or lobed. |
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Inflorescences | 10–30 cm, puberulent or glabrous, pistillate pendent in fruit; peduncle 1–5 cm, glabrous. |
terminal or terminal and axillary, spikelike, racemelike, paniclelike, cymelike, or, rarely, capitate, comprising simple or branched clusters of compound inflorescences; bracts absent; peduncle spreading to erect, sometimes absent; clusters of flowers subtended by connate bracteoles forming persistent membranous tube (ocreola), awnless. |
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Pedicels | 1–4 mm, glabrous. |
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Flowers | tepals round to broadly elliptic, margins entire, apex obtuse. |
usually bisexual, sometimes bisexual and unisexual on same plant, rarely unisexual only, 1–20+ per ocreate fascicle, often with stipelike base distal to articulation; perianth often accrescent in fruit, often greenish, white, pink, yellow, red, or purple, usually unwinged and unkeeled (winged or, sometimes, keeled in Fallopia, rarely keeled in Polygonum), campanulate or urceolate, sometimes membranous, indurate, or fleshy in fruit, rarely developing raised tubercles proximally (Rumex), glabrous or pubescent, sometimes glandular or glandular-punctate; tepals 2–6, usually in 2 whorls, distinct or connate proximally and forming tube, petaloid or sepaloid, monomorphic or dimorphic; nectary a disk at base of ovary or glands associated with bases of filaments; stamens usually (1–)6–9, staminodes rarely present; filaments distinct, or connate basally and sometimes forming staminal tube, free or adnate to perianth tube; pistils (2–)3(–4)-carpellate; ovary 1-locular (sometimes with vestigial partitions proximally); ovule 1, orthotropous or, rarely, anatropous, placentation basal or free-central; styles 1–3, erect to spreading or recurved, distinct or connate proximally; stigmas peltate, capitate, fimbriate, or penicillate. |
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Staminate flowers | 1–7 per ocreate fascicle. |
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Pistillate flowers | tube obpyriform, 12–20 × 8–12 mm, becoming fleshy. |
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Achenes | 8–11 × 8–10 mm, shiny. |
yellowish, brown, red, or black, homocarpic (sometimes heterocarpic in Polygonum), winged or unwinged, usually 2–3-gonous, sometimes discoid, biconvex, or spheroidal, rarely 4-gonous. |
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Seeds | embryo usually straight or curved, rarely folded. |
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2n | = 132. |
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Coccoloba uvifera |
Polygonaceae subfam. polygonoideae |
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Phenology | Flowering year-round. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Sandy or rocky coastal hummocks, sand dunes. 0-10 m | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
FL; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies
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Mainly temperate regions of North America |
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Discussion | Coccoloba uvifera is an early colonizer of exposed, sandy shorelines. The wood has a specific gravity of 0.7, and a red sap obtained by cutting the bark has been used in commerce for tanning and dyeing (E. L. Little Jr. et al. 1969). Pistillate inflorescences of some specimens of Coccoloba uvifera appear to bear clusters of up to five flowers at each node; all but one abort, leaving a single flower that produces a fruit. The pedicels of the abortive flowers usually are more slender than those of the fertile flowers. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Genera 28, species ca. 850 (16 genera, 160 species in the flora). Morphological (K. Haraldson 1978; L.-P. Ronse Decraene and J. R. Akeroyd 1988; Ronse Decraene et al. 2000; Hong S. P. et al. 1998) and molecular (A. S. Lamb Frye and K. A. Kron 2003) data provide support for separation of Persicaria from Polygonum. Further studies are needed to elucidate the relationships of allied genera, particularly Aconogonon, Bistorta, and Koenigia with Persicaria, and Fallopia and Polygonella with Polygonum. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 484. | FNA vol. 5, p. 479. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Coccoloba | Polygonaceae | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Polygonum uvifera | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Linnaeus: Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 2: 1007. (1759) | Eaton: Bot. Dict. ed. 4, 30. (1836) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Web links |