Leaves
-Characteristically lanceolated (long and pointed at the apex)
-Around 8-12cm long
-Dark green on upperside, pale-coloured, whitish on the underside
-Leaves are simple (undivided leaf blade) and opposite (a pair of leaves attached at a node)
| Pale, whitish underside of leave (leftmost), Glossy, dark green upperside of leave (middle), Long elliptic opposite leaves at each node. A node is circled red in the picture (rightmost) (Source: © Jessica Tay) |
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Flowers
- Orange-yellow colour with around 10-30 flowers on each unit.
- Each flower is only about 0.5cm in diameter with four equal lobed petals that are smooth on the inside.
- Flowers of Api-api putih is distinguished from other Avicennia species by its long spicate distal flower units that are about 1.5 to 3cm long.
- Stamens are short, only about 2mm long and does not protrude or thrust outwards
- Ovary is about 2mm long and without a style.
| Small protruding spicate (form of spike) orange-yellow flower unit (left) and up-close of flower that has four equal lobed petals (right). (Source: © www.NatureLoveYou.sg). |
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Fruits
| Conical shaped fruits with its distinctive pointed tip (Source: © www.NatureLoveYou.sg). |
- Distinctive conical shape that extends to a pronounced pointed tip.
- It is especially obvious during the early stages of fruit development.
- About 1-4cm long
- Smooth velvety outer skin.
- Each fruit contains a single seed.
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| Pencil roots growing upwards to a height of around 20 to 30cm. (Source: Cheong J. M. D) | Roots- Pencil-like aerial roots known as pneumatophores.
- About 20–30 cm tall with a tapered bluntly pointed end.
- Lenticels, for gaseous exchange, are found on the roots.
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Bark
| Greyish-brown bark that is smooth and non-fissured.(Source: © www.NatureLoveYou.sg) | - Somewhat dark grey/brown.
- Smooth or slightly roughened but it is not fissured.
- A distinct character of Api-api putih tree is the growth of sooty mould on older stem parts.
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Damage/Pest
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Mechanism/Organism
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Avicennia seed moth Autoba alabastrata¹²
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- This is the most serious pest related mortality on mature fruits of Api-api putih.
- Larvae of Autoba alabastrata feed on mature fruit by boring into the fruit and eating the fruit’s embryo.
- Infected fruit will be attached to a nearby stem by a web produced by larvae.
- This prevents fruit from falling into the water when it detaches from the parent tree because larvae would drown if water floods into the fruit via large bore holes.
| Large bore holes on fruit (Source: Guide to the mangroves of Singapore) |
- Each larva is capable of destroying up to eight fruits before it pupates in the last fruit.
- An infected tree is easily identified by its shrivelled fruits.
| Larva feeding in a fruit (Source: Guide to the mangroves of Singapore) |
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Foliage damage by herbivores¹²
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- All Avicennia species are often damaged by leaf mining moth Phyllocnistis which will destroy young leaves by mining the upper surface of young expanding leaves.
- They then pupate in a fold at the edge of the leave.
| Example of leaf-mining in the Lonicera periclymenum leaf (Source: Creative Commons: Share Alike) |
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Structural damage¹²
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- Twigs and young stems of young Avicennia species saplings are susceptible to twig boring larvae of Cossidae moth (Zeuzera conferta).
- The larva bore through the pith canal and causes nodular enlargement.
| Example of stem-boring damage by larvae of Leopard Moth, Zeuzera pyrina. (Source: © Mike Hardman, Cyprus) | Back to Top
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