From Eat the Weeds
and other things, too
by Green Deane
Sea-Grapes: Maritime Marvels
Ripening Sea Grapes
Sea-Grapes: Coastal Caterer
A
lifetime ago I spent many a night on a dark Florida beach near the
Space Center sleeping out under Sea-Grapes. Now they would arrest you
for trespassing if not threats to national security, one of the
disadvantages of more people and more lawyers. But, oh what fun we had.
I
can well remember the first time I saw Sea-Grapes: How exotic looking!
Huge round leaves, racemes of edible fruit, large, dense stands with
natural canopies underneath. Great sites for romantic rendezvous full
of promise. I even wrote a few love letters on the dry
leaves…composed on the spot, of course….
Notice the red veins in the leaves
Sea-Grapes (Coccoloba uvifera koe-koe-LOE-buh
yoo-VIFF-er-uh) are gangly, sprawling bushes or small trees found near
beaches throughout tropical America and the Caribbean, including mid-
and southern Florida and Bermuda. They’re also landscapes plants
inland with ambitious growth. I have two species in my yard at least 90
miles outside of their accepted range, a carambola and a sea-grape.
Sea-Grapes reach a maximum height of 50 feet or so under prime
conditions but most are around 10 feet tall locally. The bark is smooth
and yellowish. In late summer it bears green fruit, about the size of a
large marble, in large skinny grape-like clusters that turn purple
(think of two elephant ears and a nose, except the ears are leaves and
the nose a long, skinny string of grape-like fruit.) To say the
fruit has a pit is an understatement. The fruit is mostly pit. When
ripe the fruit can be eaten right off the tree or used for jelly.
Besides jelly, the fruit can also be made into wine. A gum or resin
from the bark has been used for throat ailments and the roots used to
treat dysentery.
More a string of fruit not a bunch
Officially
the tree is unable to survive frost. But mine has survived several and
two light freezes of just 32 degrees for a few hours. It is moderately
tolerant of shade, but will grow towards the sun. It’s very
tolerant of salt so it is often planted to stabilize beaches. The wood
of older trees is highly prized for cabinet making and boiling the wood
yields a red dye. Sometimes leaves veins are red.
Dr. Julia
Morton, who wrote “Wild Plants for Survival In South
Florida” said of the Sea-Grape: “Shrub forming clumps on
exposed beaches, or large trees… branched close to the ground
acquiring broad, massive rounded head…. young leaves silky
bronze, old leaves turn yellow or red and fall a few at a time. Flowers
whitish, tiny, in “rattail” spikes four to 12 inches long,
fruit, greenish-lavender or reddish-purple, slightly velvety,
plump-oval or pear-shaped, 3/4 of an inch long, in compact, grape-like
clusters. Flesh thin, juicy, acid to sweet, musky, covering single,
plump, sharp-pointed, hard, brown seed with ivory tip… Leaves
are useful as plates or, pinned together with twigs or thorns, can be
made into hats, also serve as emergency notepaper.”
Sea grapes ripen irregularly
Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin,
1727-1817
A member of the buckwheat family, Sea-Grapes were named twice. Its first botanical name was Polygonum uvifera, in 1753, reflecting that it is in the buckwheat family. The Coccoloba genus was created in that family and the Sea-Grape was slightly misnamed Coccolobis uvifera
by Nickolaus Joseph von Jacquin — must not have known his Dead
Latin. Linnaeus, the original namer, came back in 1759 correcting the
name to Coccoloba uvifera. Coccoloba
comes from “cocolobis” a type of Spanish grape; uvifera
means “bearing grapes” or “like grapes.”
Jacquin, incidentally, started out as a professor of Minerals and
Mining at a Mining Academy in Slovakia. In 1768, he was appointed
Professor of Botany and Chemistry and became director of the botanical
gardens of the University of Vienna. For his work, he was knighted in
1774, made a baron in 1806. His youngest son, Emil, and his
daughter, Franziska, were close friends of a hot composer of the time
with several big hits, Wolfgang Mozart.
Three more things: Sea-Grapes are an important honey source, they make
a good bonsai candidates, and a patent was filed in 1999 to use leaf
extracts to control blood sugar levels in diabetics. Oh, and the tree
is protected in Florida. It is illegal to destroy them. More
specifically, you cannot harvest from public land. On Private land you
need the owner’s permission. Here is the statute:
161.242 Harvesting of sea oats and sea grapes prohibited; possession prima facie evidence of violation.—
(1) The
purpose of this section is to protect the beaches and shores of the
state from erosion by preserving natural vegetative cover to bind the
sand.
(2) It is unlawful for any purpose to cut, harvest, remove, or
eradicate any of the grass commonly known as sea oats or Uniola
paniculata and Coccolobis uvifera commonly known as sea grapes from any
public land or from any private land without consent of the owner of
such land or person having lawful possession thereof. Possession of
either Uniola paniculata or Coccolobis uvifera by other than the owner
of such land shall constitute prima facie evidence of violation of this
section. However, licensed, certified nurserymen who grow any of the
native plants listed in this section from seeds or by vegetative
propagation are specifically permitted to sell these commercially grown
plants and shall not be in violation of this section of the law if they
do so, as it is the intent of the law to preserve and encourage the
growth of these native plants which are rapidly disappearing from the
state.History.—s. 1, ch. 65-458; s. 1, ch. 67-150; s. 280, ch. 71-136;
s. 1, ch. 71-153; s. 1, ch. 73-258; s. 16, ch. 85-234; s. 11, ch.
2000-197.
Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile
Identification: A seaside, warm-climate tree with huge round leaves with red veins, a shrub near the north of it range, a tree in its range.
Time of year: Bears fruit in late summer or fall.
Environment:
Native to coastal areas such as Florida and the West Indies. Can be
grown inland in freeze-protected areas. In Florida rarely north of
Daytona Beach on the east coast and St. Petersburg on the west coast.
It is also found in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Hawaii. It is
not reported in Mississippi but is found on the coast of Alabama.
Naturalized in Mexico south to northeastern Brazil and on the Pacific
south to Peru.
Method of preparation: Ripe red fruit out of hand off the tree or made in to jelly or wine.
Green Deane's
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reference to be used in conjunction with experts in your area. Foraging
should never begin without the guidance and approval of a local plant
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