Bakau Pasir
Rhizophora stylosa · Rhizophoraceae · 붉은맹그로브
How to spot it
The style, 4 to 6 mm and longer than in other mangroves of the genus, is the identifying feature (the origin of the species name stylosa).
Look
- Leaves
- Leathery, broad elliptic leaves (6.5 to 12.5 cm x 3 to 7.5 cm) with a pointed tip, tiny black dots beneath, and a leaf stalk of 1 to 3.5 cm.
- Flowers
- Creamy linear petals are arranged in a cross, with eight stamens and a long style of 4 to 6 mm.
- Fruit
- The brown pear-shaped fruit shows vivipary, with the seed germinating while still attached to the parent; the club-shaped propagule reaches 20 to 35 cm and spreads by floating on water.
- Bark
- Smooth gray to black bark that cracks; the trunk reaches 10 to 15 cm in diameter.
Where it grows
- Native to
- Native to the coasts (mangroves) of Taiwan, Southeast Asia (including Singapore), Australia and Papua New Guinea.
- Ecology
- The Singapore native population is assessed as Vulnerable (VU).