Coccoloba swartzii

Coccoloba swartzii Mesin.

Common Names: Tie Tongue

Family: Polygonaceae

Habit: Coccoloba swartzii grows as a shrub to small tree to 14 meters in height.  The leaves are arranged alternately, to 7 cm in length, ovate to elliptic with and round leaf apex and entire margin, and are coriaceous. There is a small deciduous sheathing ocrea extending from the petiole surrounding the stem above the internode when there are new leaves.

Coccoloba swartzii is dioecious. The incomplete, imperfect, actinomorphic flowers are arranged in racemes that are longer than the leaves.  The calyx has 5 green sepals. The corolla has 5 whitish petals.  There are 8 stamens.  In staminate flowers the stamens are fertile and are 3 times the size of the infertile ovary.  In carpellate flowers the stamens are infertile and shorter than the ovary.  In both types of flowers the calyx, corolla, and stamens are fused to form a shallow hypanthium.  At the base of the hypanthium are nectaries.  The ovary is superior with a single locule.  The fruit is a round drupe that turns reddish black at maturity and is only slightly. fleshy.

Habitat: Coccoloba swartzii grows in Dry Broadleaf Evergreen Formation- Forest/Woodlands/Shrublands/Dwarf Shrublands (coppice, scrublands).

Distribution: Coccoloba swartzii occurs throughout the Lucayan Archipelago as well as the Caribbean and Central American region.

Medicinal/Cultural/Economic usage: Coccoloba swartzii is not known to be used medicinally in the Lucayan Archipelago.