Sonneratia alba Sm.

Habit: Mangrove tree to 3 15 m high.

Roots:Pneumatophores conical emerging upwardly growing from the system of cable roots.

Trunk & bark:Bark smooth with fine longitudinal fissures.

Leaves:Leaves simple, opposite, obovate to ovate, apex broadly rounded and even emarginate, base cuneate, 5 – 12 x 3 – 9 cm, thickly coriaceous; petiole yellow when mature, short and thick. Inflorescences or flowers:Inflorescence solitary or terminal. Flowers large, white, 46 cm across, bisexual; calyx tube campanulate, more than 6 lobed, green outside and red inside; petals, white with red tinged apex, 13 – 20, resembling like filaments; stamens with white filaments. Fruits: Fruits berry, conspicuously oboconical turbinate, 45 cm across apiculate with short style base at center; calyx persistent, 67 lobed, reflexed.

Seeds /seedling:Seeds falcate and smooth, many 150200 per fruit. Epigeal or modified epigeal germination.

Habitat and ecology: Pioneer species, colonizing newly formed sandy mud flats in sheltered situations.

Septifragal capsules split and seeds with corky or spongy testa spread along water current for establishing seedling in the adjoining mud. Pollination by bats, hawk moths.

Pioneer species, colonizing newly formed sandy mud flats in sheltered situations.

Septifragal capsules split and seeds with corky or spongy testa spread along water current for establishing seedling in the adjoining mud. Pollination by bats, hawk moths.

Wood is used in boatbuilding and in carpentry. Pneumatophores are used to make fishnet floats. Stem is used for paper pulp, matches, and as poles; leaves as fodder; fruits as vegetable; also used to make spinning tops for kids. Crushed leaves used to treat stomach upsets.