Common name: Looking Glass Mangrove • Hindi: सुंदरी Sundari • Bengali: সুংদৰী Sundari
Botanical name: Heritiera littoralis Family: Sterculiaceae (Cacao family)
Looking Glass Mangrove grows along the seashore in India, SE Asia and
Tropical Africa. It is found in abundance in Sundarban, which probably got
its name from this tree, locally known as Sundari. It is a tree growing to
5-15 m tall. The leaves are
oblong-ovate to elliptic-ovate and 10-20 cm long. The tip is pointed or
blunt, the base is usually rounded, the upper surface smooth and shining,
and the lower surface densely covered with small, round, pale or
silvery-white scales. The flowers are numerous, yellowish-green,
bell-shaped, about 5 mm long, usually 5-toothed and borne on hairy
panicles 7-15 cm long. The fruit is hard and shining, woody, smooth,
broadly boat-shaped, 4-8 cm long, and keeled.
Identification credit: Navendu Pāgé
| Photographed in Bangalore. |
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