Pigeon Plum Coccoloba diversifolia 20 Seeds USA Company

The Pigeon Plum is great as a shade tree creating an enticing canopy for your patio and/or yard. Its high wind tolerance makes this a hurricane resistant tree perfect for your garden. The Pigeon Plum tree is native to the Florida Keys, south Florida, and the West Indies. It has purple fruit in which birds enjoy eating. The fruit can be eaten raw or made into jelly or wine. Some characteristics of the Pigeon Plum include a light gray bark and a diversified leaf shape and size. In full sun, this plant is fast growing. Coccoloba diversifolia grows as a medium shrub to large tree up to 10 m in height and 60 cm in diameter. The trunk is grey and brown (sometimes slight orange) with pieces of bark flaking off in jigsaw puzzle like pieces. The leaves are arranged alternately, to 25 cm. the leaf shape is highly variable with shade and adventitious shoot leaves large, elongate to lanceolate and sun leaves small and elliptical. The petiole base wraps around the stem at the leaf axil forming an ochrea.

Coccoloba diversifolia is dioecious with the flowers arranged in racemes. The perianth contains only the calyx which has 5 whitish green sepals fused at their base forming a shallow cup. Staminate flowers have 8 fertile stamens fused to the rim of the calyx cup. Carpellate flowers have a superior ovary with a single locule and ovule. Around the base of the ovary is a nectary. Staminate flowers can be distinguished from carpellate flowers by the size of the stamens. In staminate flowers the stamens are fully exerted and 2-3 times the length of the entire flower. Additionally, on the staminate inflorescences there are numerous flowers at each node. The fruit is a drupe turning dark red to purple at maturity. Coccoloba diversifolia is used as a component of the soothing and aphrodisiac teas. The wood has been used for carving. The fruits support a diverse avian population as well as iguanas (where they occur). Coccoloba diversifolia is used extensively in the horticultural industry of southern Florida.

Seeds are Stored in a Refrigerator to Maintain Viability

Growing Instructions

1. Soak the seed in water for several hours.
2. Prepare a mixture of half potting soil and half sand, perlite or vermiculite. Water the mixture so that it is moist but not wet.
3. Put the seeds on the soil.
4. Cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil.
5. Water the seeds.
6. Place the pots in an area with warm temperatures in full sun or part shade.
7. When the seedlings are a few inches tall, they can be transplanted.