ABOVE: Heritiera littoralis as illustrated in the Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak.
Two species of medium sized Heritiera tree species are found in coastal areas of Borneo. The drift seeds of both species are very common on most of Borneo’s beaches.
See Heritiera globosa and Heritiera littoralis.
However the ecology is very different. H. littoralis is a member of the Barringtonia Association of tropical seashore plants with seeds adapted for long distance dispersal by sea currents. H. littoralis grows on rocky, sandy and muddy shores from Africa east to the Fiji Islands in the Pacific. In contrast H. globosa is rare outside Borneo and usually only grows in brackish water in association with Nipa palms.
