Genus of about 150 species of dioecious trees, shrubs, and climbers, mainly evergreen, from sandy seashores and humid regions of tropical North, Central and South America. Coccoloba is a tropical plant, native to coastal hammocks, coastal scrub, coastal grasslands and beach strands from Argentina north throughout the West Indies and the Florida Keys to Pinellas County on the Gulf Coast and southern Volusia County on the Atlantic Coast of Florida. It will grow in the house but it is more suited to the conservatory. The shiny, evergreen leaves are leathery, rounded with heart-shaped bases, red-veined, and about 8" in diameter. The fragrant white flowers are very small and borne on 6-10" spikes.