Tropical Plant Database - Plant Details

Conocarpus erectus typically grows as a low branching shrub with several trunks, but under ideal conditions can become a handsome vase-shaped tree up to 15 m tall with a canopy spreading 6 m wide. The evergreen leaves are oblong to lance-shaped, 5 to 9 cm long and arranged alternately along the stem. The leaves of the buttonwood mangrove are dark green and glabrous (hairless). The leaves of the silverleaf variety, are covered with a dense mat of silky hairs which imparts a beautiful silver-gray color to the plant. The flowers are inconspicuous and clustered into heads that resemble buttons. The mature fruits are reddish brown, about 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter, and contain many seeds.
(Edward F. Gilman and Dennis G. Watson. 1993. Fact Sheet, University of Florida.)

The wood of buttonwood mangrove is very hard and valued for firewood, lumber and the production of charcoal.

Silverleaf buttonwood is ideal for seaside plantings as it is highly tolerant of full sun, sandy soils, and salty conditions. It is often used for street and parking lot plantings. This variety, with its small, silver leaves and contorted trunk, is a favorite subject for bonsai.
(Edward F. Gilman and Dennis G. Watson. 1993. Fact Sheet, University of Florida.)

In Hawaii, the silverleafed buttonwood has sparingly naturalized along coastal areas of several islands.
(Wagner et al 1990. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai`i)

The buttonwood mangrove is part of the upland mangrove community and occurs throughout much of the coastal neo-tropics and West Africa. The silverleaf variety only occurs naturally in southern Florida but it is widely cultivated elsewhere.
(Edward F. Gilman and Dennis G. Watson. 1993. Fact Sheet, University of Florida.)