杯萼海桑 bei e hai sang

Chiratia leucantha Montrouzier; Sonneratia iriomotensis Masamune; S. mossambicensis Klotzch.

Trees, 3-15(-30) m tall, spreading, with broad, rather lax crown. Pneumatophores 30(-100) cm, thick, blunt. Petiole 5-15 mm; leaf blade adaxially pale, elliptic to ovate or obovate, 5-11 × 4-8 cm, base rounded, apex broad, rounded, with broad recurved mucro. Flowers 5-8-merous. Floral tube shiny, 3-3.5 cm at anthesis, smooth, often 6-ribbed; sepals adaxially strongly tinged red, 1.3-2 cm, ± erect at anthesis, recurved in fruit. Petals white, linear, 1.3-2 cm × ca. 1 mm, or variably semipetalous to absent. Staminal filaments white. Fruit 2-4.5 cm in diam., ca. equal to width of floral tube. Seeds falcate. Fl. common Oct-Nov, fr. ca. Feb. 2n = 22, 24.

Shallow parts of calm seas and seashores, tidal creeks. Hainan [India (including Andaman Islands), Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; tropical E Africa (including Madagascar), N Australia, W Pacific islands, Seychelles].