Sonneratia caseolaris

Species of fruit and plant From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sonneratia caseolaris

Sonneratia caseolaris, commonly known as mangrove apple,[3] is a species of plant in the family Lythraceae. The fruit is noted for its outward similarity to the persimmon fruit.[4]

Thumb
Sonneratia caseolaris in Kerala

Quick Facts Conservation status, Scientific classification ...
Sonneratia caseolaris
Thumb
Unripened mangrove apple
Thumb
Bud of mangrove apple
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Lythraceae
Genus: Sonneratia
Species:
S. caseolaris
Binomial name
Sonneratia caseolaris
Synonyms[2]
List
    • Aubletia caseolaris (L.) Gaertn.
    • Blatti caseolaris (L.) Kuntze
    • Sonneratia acida L.f.
    • Sonneratia evenia Blume
    • Sonneratia neglecta Blume
    • Sonneratia obovata Blume
    • Sonneratia ovalis Korth.
    • Sonneratia rubra Oken
    • Rhizophora caseolaris L.
Close

This tree is a type of mangrove growing up to 20 m in height and with a trunk reaching a maximum diameter of 50 cm. It is present in tropical tidal mud flats from Africa to Indonesia, southwards down to northeast Australia and New Caledonia and northwards up to Hainan Island in China and the Philippines.

The fruit of this tree is the subject of a legend of Maldivian folklore, Kulhlhavah Falu Rani. Kuhlhavah (ކުއްޅަވައް) is the Dhivehi name for the mangrove apple (Sonneratia caseolaris). [5]

The tree is associated with congregating fireflies throughout southeast Asia[6] and is the food source of moth and other insects.

Uses

The leaves and the fruit are edible and appreciated as food in certain areas, such as Maldives.[3] In Sri Lanka, where the fruit is known as kirala gédi (කිරල ගෙඩි) in Sinhala or Kārk koṭṭaikaḷ (கார்க் கொட்டைகள்) in Tamil, the pulp of the fruit is mixed with coconut milk extract and made into a milk shake.[7] Many tourist resorts situated in the South of Sri Lanka where the trees grow abundantly alongside rivers, offer fresh fruit drinks made from the fruit. In the Maldives the fruits are used as a refreshing drink and also eaten with scraped coconut & sugar.

The tree is also sometimes known as cork tree, because fishermen in some areas make fishing net floats by shaping the pneumatophores into small floats.[6]

References

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.