Synonym: Heliotropium foertherianum.
Region: E. Africa across the Indian Ocean, Asia to New Guinea, northern Australia and Polynesia.
Habitat: tropical to subtropical; coastal areas; sandy beaches; rocky, coral limestone slopes; requires a sunny position; prefers well-drained soil, of light to medium texture; tolerant of nutrient-poor, thin, poor, sandy, rocky and saline soils.
Use: food, leaves, resembling parsley, raw as a salad, cooked as a vegetable, fruit; medicinal; materials; shelter and protection in exposed, coastal areas; ornamental; firewood.
BotanyTree or shrub; evergreen; slow-growing; spreading canopy; 1 to 6, to 12 metres tall.
Roots: very strong vertical and lateral anchoring; prop roots growing on the beach.
Pollination: by bees, butterflies
Seeds: float in seawater;
Propagation: spread by ocean currents.