| Type | Indigenous |
|---|---|
| Family | Rhizophoraceae |
| Synonym | Rhizophora candal L. |
| Synonym_2 | Kandelia rheedi Arn. |
| Local Name | Cherukandal |
| Habit | Small sized tree |
| Botanical Features | Evergreen trees, to 6 m high; bole buttressed; bark dark brown, smooth; branchlets, terete, glabrous, reddish-brown; stipular scar narrow, thin, brown layered; leaf scar round, prominent. Leaves simple, opposite, decussate, stipulate, clustered at the shoot apex; stipules pale green; petiole 15-20 mm long, stout, glabrous; lamina 8.5-12 x 3-4.5 cm, oblong or lanceolate, base cuneate, margin entire, glabrous, shiny-green above and pale green beneath; lateral nerves 7-9 pairs, pinnate, slender. Flowers bisexual, white, in axillary dichotomously branched 4-flowered cymes; peduncle terete, glabrous; bracts minute, cupular, at each node on peduncle; pedicel terete, glabrous; calyx white, lobes linear, thick, persistent; petals 5, free ; stamens many, free, filaments unequal, terete, anthers basifixed, bilobed; ovary half inferior, ovules 6, pendulous; style filiform, terete; stigma minutely 3-lobed. Fruit a drupe; calyx lobes reflexed; peduncle elongating; seed one . |