Seagrape

Description:

A massive wall of seagrape on the shores of Cocoa Beach. The photo does it no justice it stretched for twenty feet and was probably ten feet high. Seagrape is a very neat and useful plant. It's popular ornamental but also has several niche uses such as protective habitat for small animals, dune stabilizers, and stabilizers of beach edges. The fruit is edible and very grape like. Usually green but turning a deep purple when ripe. A neat thing about planting walls of seagrape at beach edges is it blocks city lights for sea turtle hatchlings, which is always nice.

Habitat:

Native to coastal beaches throughout tropical America and the Caribbean, including southern Florida, the Bahamas, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and Bermuda.