The Green Buttonwood Conocarpus erectus is a great tree for coastal planting. Its high salt and drought tolerances provide a great screen for privacy. Considered a front line tree, the Green Buttonwood is tolerant of extreme exposure to salt spray. It can be used for hedging, as a shade tree, and a specimen plant. The Green Buttonwood is a Florida native tree and is known for its tenacity. Full sun, high alkaline soil, and salty air, are all ideal conditions, making it the perfect tree for south Florida and coastal areas. The Green Buttonwood ages very nicely with the bark of the tree contorting and twisting with age. It can also be trimmed and shaped easily. Rough seashore winds add its nice patina. Conocarpus erectus grows as a small shrub to large tree up to 20 meters in height. The leaves are arranged alternately, oval and up to ten cm long and can be covered with either a gray pubescence or be completely glabrous. The petioles have two glands at the leaf base. The flowers occur in heads that are arranged in a racemous fashion. The calyx has five partially fused sepals. The corolla is absent and there are five stamens. The floral parts are all pubescent. The fruit is a drupe producing a flat winged seed. Conocarpus erectus occurs near saline environments along shorelines and interior ponds but typically only in locations that have occasional flooding. They can also grow in upland areas when planted. It occurs throughout the islands of the Bahamas, Florida, the Caribbean, Central and South America as well as Africa. Conocarpus erectus is widely used in the horticultural trade. The wood has been used for charcoal production because of how dense it is as well as in boat construction because of its durability in saline environments. It is also used as a fuel source for smoking fish and barbequing because of its unique flavor
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