sea grape

Noun

sea grape (countable and uncountable, plural sea grapes)

1. A small tree, of species Coccoloba uvifera, that grows on sandy beaches in tropical America; it has clusters of purple fruit.
   • Most of Indian Key seems to be swamp, covered with mangrove roots. But there is a small gravel beach where we landed, and a few yards inland we found a sheltered spot on dry ground for the tent. We pitched it under a sea-grape tree.1941 March 12, Charles A. Lindbergh, The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, published 1970, page 461
2. European ephedra (Ephedra distachya), a leafless plant found in sandy soils along the coast and inland from southern and central Europe to central Asia, with edible fruit, harvested for the ephedrine found in its stems.
3. (Ireland, UK) Any plant in the genus Ephedra, especially those native to Europe and neighboring parts of Africa and Asia.
4. Seaweeds in the genus Caulerpa, eaten in Southeast Asia, especially Caulerpa lentillifera and Caulerpa racemosa.
5. Gulfweed, a kind of brown alga (Sargassum).
6. The clusters of gelatinous egg capsules of a squid (Loligo spp.).
7. Any animal in the genus Molgula, bottom-dwelling sea squirts that look like peeled grapes.