Sea Almond, Tropical Almond Tree, Indian Almond, Ketapang
Terminalia catappa · Combretaceae · 카타파아몬드
How to spot it
Recognized from far away by its tiered, pagoda-like branch arrangement and large leaves that turn red before falling.
Look
- Leaves
- Large stalked leaves (8 to 38 cm long, 5 to 19 cm wide), papery to thinly leathery, turn red before dropping.
- Flowers
- Small white to greenish-white flowers.
- Fruit
- A flattened egg-shaped fruit (3.5 to 7 cm long, 2 to 5.5 cm wide) has an almond-flavored edible kernel inside the stone. Bats like the fruit and spread the seeds, and it also disperses by floating on water.
- Bark
- Buttress roots often form at the trunk base, and the gray bark is shallowly cracked.
Where it grows
- Native to
- Native to coastal forest, mangrove forest, sandy beaches and rocky shores from tropical Asia to northern Australia and Polynesia.
- Ecology
- Closely tied to wildlife, such as bats eating the fruit, and its seeds are spread by living and non-living agents.