Rhizophora mangle

R. mangle is normally a small evergreen tree 5-10 m tall with a trunk diameter of 20 cm, but can grow to 20-30 m (and even 50 m) tall, with diameters of 20Ð50(-70) cm, with arching stilt roots 2Ð4.5 m high. Bark grey or grey-brown, smooth and thin on small trunks, becoming furrowed and thick on larger ones. Inner bark reddish or pinkish, with a slightly bitter and salty taste. Twigs stout, grey or brown, hairless, ending in a conspicuous narrow pointed green bud 2.5Ð5 cm long, covered with 2 green scales (stipules) around pairs of developing leaves, and making a ring scar around the twig when shedding. Leaves opposite, crowded at end of twig, hairless, with slightly flattened leafstalks 13Ð22 mm. Blades elliptical, 6-10 cm long, blunt at apex and short-pointed at base, slightly rolled under at edges, slightly leathery and fleshy with side veins not visible, shiny green above, yellow green beneath. Flowers usually 2-4 together at leaf bases on forked green stalks, 4-7.5 cm long, slightly fragrant, pale yellow, about 2 cm across. The bell-shaped pale yellow base (hypanthium) less than 6 mm long bears four widely spreading narrow pale yellow sepals almost 13 mm long, leathery and persistent;four narrow petals 10 mm long, curved downward, whitish but turning brown, white woolly or cottony on inner side;eight stamens;pistil of two-celled ovary mostly inferior but conical at apex, with two ovules in each cell, slender style, and two-lobed stigma. Fruits dark brown, conical, about 3 cm long and 13 mm in diameter, with enlarged curved sepals, remaining attached. The single seed germinates inside the fruit, forming the long narrow first root (radicle), green except for brown enlarged and pointed end, up to 13 mm in diameter. The propagules fall when they are 20-30 cm long (adapted from Duke, 1983;Little and Skolmen, 1989;Hill, 2001;Duke and Allen, 2006).