Heritiera littoralis

Heritiera littoralis, the looking-glass mangrove is a large tree with wing shaped nuts, which is most easily recognised by the silvery scales on the underside of its leaves, which therefore appear green from top and white from below, although Litsea mellifera A.C. Smith (in the family Lauraceae), has the same type of leaves. The tree is usually found to grow along the seashore in Bangladesh & Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Tropical Africa.

Heritiera littoralis

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Genus: Heritiera
Species:
H. littoralis
Binomial name
Heritiera littoralis
Synonyms[2]
  • Amygdalus litoralis (Dryand.) Kuntze
  • Balanopteris tothila Gaertn.
  • Heritiera minor Bojer
  • Samadera littoralis (Dryander) Oken
  • Sutherlandia littoralis J.F.Gmel.

The tree's tough wood has historically been used in boat-building.[3] The fruits of the tree (known as dungon locally), are also used in Philippine cuisine for kinilaw.[4]

Common names

Native names for the tree include:[5][6]

  • Bengali – sundari (সুন্দরী) (সুন্দরি)
  • Bahasa Indonesia – dungun kecil, dungun laut
  • Filipino - dungon
  • Hindi – sundari (सुंदरी)
  • Japanese – sakishimasuōnoki (サキシマスオウノキ)
  • Malay – pokok dungun
  • Sinhala – etuna (ඇටුන) / ho mediriya (හෝ මැදිරිය)
  • Tongan – mamaea
  • Vietnamese – cui biển
  • Visayan – dungon
  • Maldivian – ކަހަރުވައް (kaharuvah)
  • Chamorro - ufa

Uses

The tree is harvested for timber and is valued for its toughness, durability, and resistance to saltwater. As such, it is commonly used in shipbuilding and in making pilings, bridges, and wharves.[7]

The fruit of species in the genus is used in Philippine cuisine to neutralize the fishy taste in kinilaw, a local dish of raw fish in vinegar or citrus juices. Another species used this way is the fruits of the tabon-tabon tree (Atuna racemosa).[8][4]

  • Fruit of Heritiera littoralis
  • Fruit of Heritiera littoralis in a mangrove in the Andamans.
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References
  1. Duke, N., Kathiresan, K., Salmo III, S.G., Fernando, E.S., Peras, J.R., Sukardjo, S. & Miyagi, T. 2010. Heritiera littoralis. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 4 March 2012.
  2. http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-2846318
  3. "Dungun (Heritiera littoralis) on the Shores of Singapore". WILD Fact Sheets. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  4. Mapa, Tata (5 July 2016). "Everything you need to know about kinilaw". waytogo. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  5. http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Looking%20Glass%20Mangrove.html
  6. "Ayurvedic Plants of Sri Lanka: Plants Details". www.instituteofayurveda.org. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  7. "Dungon-late". NTFP Product Database. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  8. "Propagating the Dungon". RileyBulfa's Blog. Retrieved 30 December 2018.

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