Leaves
opposite, blades oblong, tiny black-spotted below, leaf stalks and
stipules often yellowish; stalked flowers, 2-14 per inflorescence
on a long, slender, yellow stalk; seedling viviparous, hypocotyl about
60 cm long or more, warty, with pointed tip.
Bakhaw Lalake
SN: Rhizophora apiculata
Tree up to 20 m tall. Leaf blades elliptic, tiny black-spotted below, leaf stalks and stipules
often tinged red. Stalkless flowers cream-coloured, in pairs, on a short, stout, dark
grey stalk. Fruit brown, upside-down pear-shaped, crowned by the persistent sepals. Seedling viviparous, hypocotyl about 30 cm long, smooth, with somewhat
rounded tip. Gregarious on deep soft mud of estuaries flooded by high tides.
Bungalon Api-api
SN: Avicennia alba
Tree or
shrub, to 20 m tall; bark dark grey (black when wet),smooth. Pneumatophores to about 20 cm tall, pencil-like. Leaf blades shiny dark green above and white waxy below (Latin alba,
white, as well as the Malay, putih refer to this feature),
usually egg-shaped, elliptic or lance-shaped with a pointed tip but
can be very variable even within the same branch; Flowers in cross-like inflorescences; petals yellow, about 4 mm across.
Fruit dull pale green, flattened, elongated ellipsoid, with seedlings
germinating within.
Found commonly on newly
formed mudbanks on the seaward side, along or near rivers. Burning wood
used to smoke fish or rubber.
Alipata
SN: Excoecaria agallocha
Small, evergreen or deciduous, unisexual tree, rarely
up to 20 m tall, exuding poisonous white latex from all broken surfaces.
Young
leaves pink and old leaves withering scarlet, blades elliptic, with
upcurled sides. Male inflorescences hanging, narrow, 5-1 0 cm long; female inflorescences
shorter, 1-4-cm long. Grows on both muddy and stony soil, with its roots spreading. Timber
used as firewood, for carpentry purpose and converted to charcoal.
Latex in the eye can cause blinding and blisters on bare skin; exploited
as a fish-poison. Rare.