Lumnitzera racemosa | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Myrtales |
Family: | Combretaceae |
Genus: | Lumnitzera |
Species: | L. racemosa |
Binomial name | |
Lumnitzera racemosa | |
Synonyms | |
Lumnitzera racemosa, commonly known as the white-flowered black mangrove, [4] is a species of mangrove in the family Combretaceae. [5] It is found on the eastern coast of Africa and other places in the western Indo-Pacific region. [6] It has one accepted variety from the noniminate species which is Lumnitzera racemosa var. lutea (Gaudich.) Exell. [7] [8]
Lumnitzera racemosa is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree, growing to a maximum height of 37 m (121 ft). It develops pneumatophores and often has stilt roots. The leaves are arranged spirally at the tips of the shoots; they are simple and obovate, with slightly toothed margins. The inflorescences grow in short spikes in the axils of the leaves or at the tips of the shoots. The flowers are small and white, and are followed by woody, flattened fruits containing a single seed. [9]
This species is native from KwaZulu-Natal to southeast Kenya in the western Indian Ocean, tropical & subtropical Asia to the western Pacific. [3] Its range includes KwaZulu-Natal, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar, Aldabra, Seychelles, Chagos Archipelago, Maldives, India, Sri Lanka, Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, southeast China, Hainan, Taiwan, Nansei-shoto, Korea, South China Sea, Philippines, Peninsular Malaysia, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Islands, New Guinea, and New Caledonia. In Mozambique it is one of only ten mangrove species. [6] It grows in the higher part of the intertidal zone and is found both on beaches and lining the banks of creeks. It is a fast-growing, pioneering species. [1]
The timber of Lumnitzera racemosa is strong and durable and has many uses, including bridge construction. [10] The wood is highly favoured for charcoal making in Cambodia. The bark is harvested for the tannins it contains. [11]
Mangroves in general are under threat from coastal development, and this species, which grows on the landward edge of the mangrove area, may be more threatened by rising sea levels than are other species because it may be unable to move further inland. There may be a decline in populations of this species due to habitat loss or harvesting, but it is a common species of mangrove with a very wide range, and is not declining at a sufficient rate to be included in any threatened category, so it is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being of "least concern". [1]
The variety of racemosa, also known as Tonga mangrove (Afrikaans : Tonga-wortelboom, Zulu : Isikhaha-esibomvu), is a protected tree in South Africa. [12]
The plant is known by a variety of common names. These include krâ:nhob sâ: (sâ:=white< Khmer)
The Combretaceae, often called the white mangrove family, are a family of flowering plants in the order Myrtales. The family includes about 530 species of trees, shrubs, and lianas in ca 10 genera. The family includes the leadwood tree, Combretum imberbe. Three genera, Conocarpus, Laguncularia, and Lumnitzera, grow in mangrove habitats (mangals). The Combretaceae are widespread in the subtropics and tropics. Some members of this family produce useful construction timber, such as idigbo from Terminalia ivorensis. The commonly cultivated Quisqualis indica is now placed in the genus Combretum. Many plants in the former Quisqualis genus contain the excitotoxin quisqualic acid, a potent AMPA agonist.
Protea gaguedi is a species of tree which belongs to the genus Protea.
Bruguiera gymnorhiza, the large-leafed orange mangrove or oriental mangrove,) is a mangrove tree that grows usually to 7–20 metres (23–66 ft) high, but sometimes up to 35m, that belongs to the family Rhizophoraceae. It is found on the seaward side of mangrove swamps, often in the company of Rhizophora. It grows from the Western Pacific across Indian Ocean coasts to Cape Province, South Africa.
Arctotheca is a small genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. They are annuals or perennials native to southern Africa. It is becoming an invasive weed in other parts of the world.
Drosera dielsiana is a compact rosetted sundew native to South Africa, Eswatini (Swaziland), Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. It was described as a new species by Arthur Wallis Exell and Jack Rodney Laundon in 1956. The diploid chromosome number is 2n=40. It was named in honor of Ludwig Diels, the author of the 1906 monograph on the Droseraceae.
Barringtonia racemosa, commonly known as powder-puff tree, is a species of tree in the family Lecythidaceae. It is found in coastal swamp forests and on the edges of estuaries in the Indian Ocean, starting at the east coast of Mozambique and KwaZulu-Natal to Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Maldives, Thailand, Laos, southern China, northern Australia, coastal Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands and many Polynesian islands.
The Durban Botanic Gardens is situated in the city of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is Durban's oldest public institution and Africa's oldest surviving botanical gardens. The gardens cover an area of 15 hectares in a subtropical climate.
Lumnitzera is an Indo-West Pacific mangrove genus in the family Combretaceae. An English common name is black mangrove. Lumnitzera, named after the German botanist, Stephan Lumnitzer (1750-1806), occurs in mangroves from East Africa to the Western Pacific, and northern Australia.
Haworthiopsis limifolia, formerly Haworthia limifolia, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Haworthiopsis, native to southern Africa and first described in 1910.
Bridelia micrantha, the mitzeeri or the coastal golden-leaf, is a tree in the family Phyllanthaceae and is native to tropical and southern Africa as well as to the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean.
Euclea racemosa is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree that is indigenous to the Indian Ocean coast of Africa from Egypt to South Africa, as well as in Comoros, Oman and Yemen.
Asparagus densiflorus (among several species colloquially called asparagus ferns; no relation to actual ferns), or the foxtail fern (asparagus) or plume fern, is a variable, evergreen-perennial plant related to cultivated, edible asparagus.
Orbea is a genus of flowering plants of the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1812. It is native to Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
Aloidendron tongaense, formerly Aloe tongaensis, is a species of plant in the genus Aloidendron, native to sandy tropical coastal forests in KwaZulu-Natal, at the border between Mozambique and South Africa, and Mozambique.
Melhania forbesii is a plant in the mallow family Malvaceae, native to southern Africa. It is named for the English naturalist and plant collector John Forbes.
Scleria pauciflora, known as few-flowered nutrush, papillose nut-sedge, and Carolina-whipgrass, is a plant in the sedge family (Cyperaceae) native to northern Mexico, the eastern United States, southern Canada, and Cuba. It is common across a broad stretch of the southeastern United States in many different habitat types, becoming rare at the northern end of its distribution.
Protea dracomontana, the Nyanga protea or the Drakensberg sugarbush, is a flowering plant that belongs within the genus Protea. The plant is found in the Eastern Cape, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal and the escarpment of the Free State, as well as eastern Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe this species is only known from a disjunct subpopulation confined to the summit of Mount Nyangani.
Coffea racemosa, also known as racemosa coffee and Inhambane coffee, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae. It has naturally low levels of caffeine, less than half of that found in Coffea arabica, and a quarter of that in Robusta coffee.
Utania racemosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae. It occurs in Southeast Asia from Sumatera in Indonesia to the Andaman Islands in India. Its wood is used for timber and fuel.
Huernia hystrix, the porcupine huernia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, native to southeastern Africa. A succulent, it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.