Chrysobalanus icacoL.

Coco Plantcoco plumcocoplumicacoicaco coco plum

WFO wfo-0000830291 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Chrysobalanus icaco, photographed by LBuffum
fig. a LBuffum, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-21 / obs. 199454662
Chrysobalanus icaco, photographed by Theo Summer
fig. b Theo Summer, CC0 1.0 / obs. 192517602
Chrysobalanus icaco, photographed by Josiah Londerée
fig. c Josiah Londerée, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 190489929
Chrysobalanus icaco, photographed by Jay Pruett
fig. d Jay Pruett, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 185771215
Chrysobalanus icaco, photographed by Jeanene Arrington-Fisher
fig. e Jeanene Arrington-Fisher, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184640277
Chrysobalanus icaco, photographed by Theo Summer
fig. f Theo Summer, CC0 1.0 / obs. 179286390
Chrysobalanus icaco, photographed by Josiah Londerée
fig. g Josiah Londerée, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178485064
Chrysobalanus icaco, photographed by Theo Summer
fig. h Theo Summer, CC0 1.0 / obs. 178317923

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 58 botanical countries

Regions where Chrysobalanus icaco is native: Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Zambia, Florida, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Cayman Is., Central American Pacific Is., Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Turks-Caicos Is., Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. AngolaBeninCameroonCentral African RepublicCongoDR CongoEquatorial GuineaGabonGambiaGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastLiberiaMaliNigeriaSenegalSierra LeoneTogoZambiaFloridaMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBelizeBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SoutheastCentral American Pacific Is.ColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáPuerto RicoSouthwest CaribbeanSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela BahamasBermudaCayman Is.Leeward Is.Turks-Caicos Is.Venezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Chrysobalanus icaco, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Bahamas BAH SOUTHERN AMERICA
Belize BLZ
Bermuda BER
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil Southeast BZL
Cayman Is. CAY
Central American Pacific Is. CPI
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Puerto Rico PUE
Southwest Caribbean SWC
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Turks-Caicos Is. TCI
Venezuela VEN
Venezuelan Antilles VNA
Windward Is. WIN
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Cameroon CMN
Central African Republic CAF
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Gabon GAB
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Liberia LBR
Mali MLI
Nigeria NGA
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Togo TOG
Zambia ZAM
Florida FLA NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 81 in flower of 315 examined

Peak flowering in Mar. Each bar is the share of Chrysobalanus icaco observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 81 of 315 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 26 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Chrysobalanus atacorensis A.Chev.
  • Chrysobalanus chariensis A.Chev.
  • Chrysobalanus ellipticus Sol. ex Sabine
  • Chrysobalanus guianensis Klotzsch
  • Chrysobalanus icaco f. albus G.Klotz
  • Chrysobalanus icaco subsp. ellipticus (Sol. ex Sabine) Souza
  • Chrysobalanus icaco subsp. orbicularis (Schum.) Souza
  • Chrysobalanus icaco subsp. pellocarpus (G.Mey.) A.E.Murray
  • Chrysobalanus icaco var. chariensis (A.Chev.) Souza
  • Chrysobalanus icaco var. ellipticus (Sol. ex Sabine) Hook.f.
  • Chrysobalanus icaco var. genuinus Hook.f.
  • Chrysobalanus icaco var. icaco
  • Chrysobalanus icaco var. luteus (Sabine) Souza
  • Chrysobalanus icaco var. macrocarpus Souza
  • Chrysobalanus icaco var. pellocarpus (G.Mey.) Souza
  • Chrysobalanus icaco var. pellocarpus (G.Mey.) Hook.f.
  • Chrysobalanus icaco var. roseus Souza
  • Chrysobalanus interior Small
  • Chrysobalanus luteus Sabine
  • Chrysobalanus orbicularis Schumach.
  • Chrysobalanus pellocarpus G.Mey.
  • Chrysobalanus purpureus Mill.
  • Chrysobalanus savannarum Britton
  • Chrysobalanus stuhlmannii Engl.

and 2 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.