Coccoloba is a genus of 177 species of flowering plants in the familyPolygonaceae, which is native to the Neotropics.[1] There is no overall English name for the genus, although many of the individual species have widely used common names.[2]
The species are shrubs and trees, and lianas, mostly evergreen. The leaves are alternate, often large (to very large in some species; up to 2.5m (8 feet) long in C. gigantifolia),[5] 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.[3][4] Species in the genus have been characterized as dioecious,[6] but this is unclear.[7]Trioecy has been documented in C. cereifera.[8]
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