''Heritiera littoralis'', commonly known as the looking-glass mangrove or tulip mangrove, is a

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

tree in the family

Malvaceae Malvaceae (), or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include Theobroma cacao, cacao, Cola (plant), cola, cotton, okra, Hibiscus sabdariffa, ...

native to coastal areas of eastern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanu ...

and northern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The common name refers to the silvery appearance of the underside of the leaves, resembling a mirror to some degree. The strong timber has uses in marine applications and elsewhere.

Description

Heritiera littoralis at Kepong Botanical Garden 20230625 111725

''Heritiera littoralis'' is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

tree growing up to in height with very prominent, sinuous

buttress root Buttress roots, also known as plank roots or stilt roots, are large, wide roots on all sides of a shallowly rooted tree. Typically, they are found in nutrient-poor tropical forest soils that may not be very deep. They may prevent the tree from fa ...

s that may be up to tall. It is usually low-branching and the crown is untidy-looking with gnarled branches. The trunk is light grey or grey-brown in appearance, smooth when young but developing vertical fissures as it ages. The leaves are spirally arranged on the branches and varyingly measure from up to , with a

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

up to long. They are oblong-elliptical to ovate-elliptical, dark green on the upper surface and the undersides are silvery-white to light brown due to the presence of

stellate Stellate, meaning star-shaped, may be used to describe: Biology * Stellate cell (disambiguation) * Stellate ganglion * Stellate reticulum * Stellate veins * Stellate trichomes (hairs) Other * Stellate wounds from lacerations or incisions * S ...

scales. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s are

axillary Axillary means "related to the axilla (armpit)" or "related to the leaf axils". "Axillary" may refer to: Biology * Axillary artery * Axillary border * Axillary fascia * Axillary feathers * Axillary hairs * Axillary lines * Axillary lymph nodes ...

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

s, and as this species is

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system comparable with gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy, and contras ...

, they bear both

pistillate Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ...

(functionally female) and

staminate The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

(functionally male) flowers on the same plant. The flowers have a fused

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower. It is a structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepal ...

tube with usually 5 teeth and are bell-shaped (hence the common name Tulip oak). They are greenish-pink or dull purple, around wide and long. The fruit is a flattened, ellipsoid,

indehiscent Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part. Structures that ...

, brown woody pod which is derived from the

carpel Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more ...

, and contains a single seed. It has a distinctive oblique keel on the uppermost side and measures up to long by wide. The fruit can float for several weeks and so is able to take advantage of tides, currents and winds to aid in its dispersal.

Taxonomy

This species was first described by the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

William Aiton William Aiton (17312 February 1793) was a Scotland, Scottish botanist. Aiton was born near Hamilton, Scotland, Hamilton. Having been regularly trained to the profession of a gardener, he travelled to London in 1754, and became assistant to Phi ...

in 1789, who at the time was the director of the botanical garden at Kew. The description was published in the third volume of his work ''

Hortus Kewensis (Latin for 'Kew Garden'; abbr. ) is a series of works cataloguing the plant species in cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Background Kew became a favored location for English courtiers ...

'', in which he also raised the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Heritiera''.

Subspecies

The

Global Biodiversity Information Facility The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around th ...

recognises two infraspecies, ''Heritiera littoralis'' subsp. ''littoralis'', and ''Heritiera littoralis'' subsp. ''fischeri'', while

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

does not recognise any.

Etymology

The genus name ''Heritiera'' was given in honour of the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

botanist

Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle (; 15 June 1746 – 18 August 1800) was an 18th-century French botanist and civil servant. Born into an affluent upper-class Parisian family, connections with the French Royal Court secured him the position ...

. The

species epithet Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany) ...

''litoralis'' means "by the sea" in reference to the habitat of this plant.

Vernacular names

Regional common names for the tree include:

Distribution and habitat

''Heritiera littoraliss natural range is eastern Africa,

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

and the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

in Australia. It grows in the landward edges of mangrove forests and along riverine forests at elevations close to sea level.

Ecology

This species is host for the larvae of a number of

lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

ns including: '' Arhopala micale'', '' Arhopala pseudocentaurus'', '' Assara seminivale'', '' Hymenoptychis sordida'' and '' Synnympha perfrenis''.

Uses

The tree is harvested for timber and is valued for its toughness, durability, and resistance to saltwater. It is commonly used in shipbuilding and for pilings, bridges, wharves, furniture and housing. When sufficiently straight and high, the trunk has been used for ship's masts. The fruit of species in the genus is used in

Philippine cuisine Filipino cuisine is composed of the cuisines of more than a hundred distinct Ethnic groups in the Philippines, ethnolinguistic groups found throughout the Philippines, Philippine archipelago. A majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that comp ...

to neutralize the fishy taste in ''

kinilaw ''Kinilaw'' ( or , literally "eaten raw") is a raw seafood dish and preparation method native to the Philippines. It is more accurately a cooking process that relies on vinegar and acidic fruit juices (usually citrus) to denature the ingredi ...

'', a local dish of raw fish in vinegar or citrus juices. Another species used this way is the fruits of the

tabon-tabon ''Atuna excelsa'' subsp. ''racemosa'', synonym ''Atuna racemosa'', is a tree in the family Chrysobalanaceae. The epithet ' is from the Latin meaning 'clustered', referring to the inflorescence. The tree is widely known as tabon-tabon in the Phili ...

tree ( ''Atuna excelsa'' subsp. ''racemosa'', syn. ''Atuna racemosa''). Extracts of the plant were traditionally used to treat diarrhea and dysentery, while the sap was used as a fish poison, arrowhead poison, and spearhead poison. In the Nicobar and Andaman islands, the plant's leaves and seeds are regarded as edible. Twigs have been used to clean teeth and for chewing.

Gallery

File:Heritiera littoralis.jpg, Foliage File:Heritiera littoralis Aiton (5927447934).jpg, Flowers File:Starr 070727-7635 Heritiera littoralis.jpg, Foliage, flowers and unripe fruit File:Keeled-pod mangrove (Heritiera littoralis) leaves ruled.jpg File:Heritiera littoralis - Sakishimasuo - Iriomote island Japan.jpg, Buttress roots File:Heritiera littoralis ( Dungun ).jpg, Green fruit File:Keeled-pod mangrove (Heritiera littoralis) pods.jpg, Ripened fruit File:Heritiera littoralis at Kepong Botanical Garden 20230625 111702.jpg, Foliage File:Heritiera littoralis, dorsum of leaf. Mangilao, Guam.jpg, Dorsum of leaf. Dededo, Guam File:Heritiera littoralis, stellate scales of dorsum of leaf under magnification. Mangilao, Guam.jpg, Stellate scales from dorsum of leaf under magnification. Dededo, Guam

References

External links

* *
View a map
of recorded sightings of ''Heritiera littoralis'' at the

View observations
of this species on

iNaturalist iNaturalist is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. iNaturalist may be accessed via its web ...

See images
of ''Heritiera littoralis'' on Flickriver {{Taxonbar, from=Q2574713 littoralis Mangroves Flora of tropical Asia Flora of China Flora of Australia Flora of the Pacific Flora of Africa Taxa named by William Aiton Taxa described in 1789 Western Indo-Pacific flora Flora of the Central Indo-Pacific