Coco plum is a low evergreen shrub or bushy tree of tropical coasts and inland areas, grown for its edible fruit and as a hedge or landscape plant. It is a species, Chrysobalanus icaco, with coastal and inland forms.
Family
Chrysobalanaceae (Chrysobalan family)
Grows as
Tree, Shrub
Light
Part shade
Water
Water regularly while establishing, then allow the top of the soil to dry slightly between waterings; it tolerates short dry spells once mature.
Soil
Well-drained sandy or loamy soil; tolerates salty and poor soils.
Temperature
18–32 °C; protect below 10 °C
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
Florida to E. Brazil, W. Trop. Africa to Zambia
Climate
wet tropical
About
Chrysobalanus icaco, the cocoplum, paradise plum, abajeru or icaco is a low shrub or bushy tree found near sea beaches and inland throughout tropical Africa, tropical Americas and the Caribbean, and in southern Florida and the Bahamas. An evergreen, it is also found as an exotic species on other tropical islands, where it has become a problematic invasive. Although taxonomists disagree on whether Chrysobalanus icaco has multiple subspecies or varieties, it is recognized as having two ecotypes, described as an inland, much less salt-tolerant, and more upright C. icaco var. pellocarpus and a coastal C. icaco var. icaco. Both the ripe fruit of C. icaco, and the seed inside the ridged shell it contains, are considered edible.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chrysobalanus icaco by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.