Bruguiera parviflora Wight & Arn. ex W.Griffith

Tree up to 24 m by 15-30(-55) cm. Bark smooth, grey, with a few small, obscure lenticels. Leaves elliptic, 7.5-13 by 2½-4 cm, apex acute, base cuneate; nerves about 10 pairs, faintly visible on both surfaces; petiole 1½-2 cm. Stipules c. 4½ cm long. Cymes 3-7-flowered. Peduncle c. 2 cm, 2-5-flowered. Flowers yellowish green. Pedicels 6-13 mm. Calyx tube ridged, 7-9 mm long, lobes 8, about 1U-115 as long as the tube. Petals 1½-2 mm long, the lobes the length of the petal, each with 3 bristles c. 0.5 mm, white hairy at the lower margin. Stamens 1½ mm, anthers slightly oblong, 1/3 mm long. Style c. 1.25-1.5 mm long, obscurely lobed, stigmas 2-3. Fruit-calyx-tube 1.75-2.25 cm long, lobes erect, not accrescent. Hypocotyl cylindric, smooth, 7½-13 by 0.5 cm; plumule piercing the base of the fruit which remains on the seedling as a cuff.

Mostly on the inner side of the mangrove, not infrequently found associated with B. cylindrica, but more often with Rhizophoras where it is at its best. Occasionally it forms pure, solid stands. It distinctly increases as a result of exploitation of immature areas. It often establishes itself on soils formerly occupied by Rhizophora and is frequently common on river-banks where excessive pole cutting has been indulged in by fishermen. And then it may become a nurse for the Rhizophoras. If it grows mixed with B. gymnorrhiza it is evidently under conditions which suit it as then it attains its largest size. It is much more tolerant of submergence than B. cylindrica. Though quick to establish itself, Watson finds it a slow grower and among the Bruguieras it has the shortest life, particularly when it grows in pure stands as it frequently does in the wetter parts. Watson calls it an 'opportunist species1 occurring under a variety of conditions. For that reason the forester encourages it if he cuts as frequently as every twenty years.

Uses. By its small dimensions not of much use, but employed for (inferior) fire-wood and for mining and on the Selangor coast for fishing-stakes and traps, but in Perak fishermen say that, like B. cylindrica, it has a peculiar odour which frightens fish away. Sometimes poles are used for rafters.Bark is deficient in tannin. Malays sometimes use the germinating embryo as a vegetable.

Seeds can be planted directly or seedlings can be transplanted. The fruit can easily be spread by rain and water and often washes onto the higher pieces of mangrove swamp land.