Lumnitzera Willd.

Trees small or shrubs, evergreen. Leaves spiraled, densely crowded at apices of branchlets; leaf blade spatulate to narrowly oblanceolate, gradually narrowed into a short petiole, somewhat fleshy, glossy and glabrous when mature; lateral veins inconspicuous or obscure. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, short, several-flowered spikes or racemes. Calyx tube cylindric or cylindric-ellipsoid, not differentiated into proximal and distal parts, bearing 2 deltoid bracteoles minutely glandular pilose at margin; lobes 5, persistent, deltoid or broadly triangular, margin minutely glandular pilose. Petals 5, red or white, rarely pink [or yellow]. Stamens 5-10. Style persistent. Fruit fusiform or ellipsoid, obtusely angled, dry, ± woody, nearly smooth or longitudinally wrinkled, apex bearing persistent calyx lobes and style.

Small trees or shrubs of mangrove swamps, tidal rivers, and estuaries, mostly on the land side of the mangrove, often above flood level.Van Bodegom asserts (in lift.) that Lumnitzera forms a definite teruntum mangrove type (girdle) occupying the back-mangrove on solid, drier soils which are sandy or have a sandy subsoil. He observed Lumnitzera to be frequent in the Riouw Islands but less so on the muddy shores of Bengkalis except on the more sandy northern shores of the islands, where they may form pure stands as e.g on the N. bank of Sg. Kembung. Similar observations were made by van der Zwaan ( van der Zwaan Het Bosch 2 1934 160 )for Indragiri; exceptional trees may reach 40 m by 60-70 cm there. De Haan ( De Haan Tect. 24 1931 51 ) found Lumnitzera in Tjilatjap (S. Java) forming part of his type 8 in girdle A4, characterized by solid shallow soils with local marlbanks below, inundated yearly only during very few days. Along Djakarta Bay Lumnitzera racemosa is locally gregarious in the back-mangrove. Van Dijk ( Van Dijk Boschbedrijf etc. 1939 55 ) found Lumnitzera gregarious in the Island of Meos Noem (Geelvink Bay).According to van Slooten ( van Slooten Trop. Natuur 11 1922 54, 65 map Bull. Jard. Bot. Btzg III 6 1924 43-49 map Blumea Suppl. 1 1937 162-175 map ) the two species, though occurring throughout Malaysia where their areas overlap, practically exclude each other in habitat, and have never been collected in exactly the same stand. L. littorea appears to be entirely absent from the shores of the (muddy) Java Sea where in contrast L. racemosa has numerous stations. The exact cause of this different ecological behaviour is not yet known.

Uses. The timber is valuable; see under the species.