seagrape // baygrape

order: caryophyllales
family: polygonaceae
genus: coccoloba
species: uvifera

First Story

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27 march 2015

Seagrapes are trees you can see almost as often as sea almonds (Terminalia catappa) along coastlines in the tropical part of Americas, mostly on sandy beaches. Seagrape trees look a lot like the non-related sea almond trees, though usually a lot smaller. When I first encountered the tree in Costa Rica, I thought this tree had to be a Terminalia species. The leaves looked to me like rounded version of catappa's leaves, had the same red tint but are definitely thicker and shinier. The sight of the fruits made the identification very simple: "sea" and "grape" were all I needed to enter into the search engine. Their wood appears to be soft and turn soggy in water. Yet their preferred habitat is one that is washed by the high tides and where subterranean zone is constantly saturated with saline water. In the dryer part of the country, we also came across trees that had just newly leaved out after a dry season. Depending on the wetness of the location, leaves size can vary tremendously. In the driest spot, leaves were only about 5 cm across. Whereas under normal condition, given all the water they need, leaves can reach the size of an adult face.

I managed to find a nursery in Germany that supplies young seedlings so I didn't have to start from zero. It was probably 2 years old when it came to me. Adding the 2 years it's been with me, it should be 4 years old now. The plant is actually quite carefree to grow except that when the seedling starts to shed some of its only few leaves in the winter, I become worried about soil wetness, dry air or cold temperatures. With me, it has always retained some leaves throughout the entire winter, with minimum and average growing temperatures of 16°C and 18°C respectively. Growth comes to a full stop by december and won't resume before April. Since it is a salt tolerant plant, I'm not afraid of salt burn and thus feed it with diluted fertiliser weekly during growing season. I would say, watch out for woodboring beetles, if there are some around your area, because the wooden part looks really chewy.