Cultivation Details
A plant of the humid lowland tropics, where it can be found at elevations up to 600 metres[2, 3]. It grows best in areas where annual daytime annual temperatures are within the range 20 - 30°c, though it can tolerate 10 - 35°c[3]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall of 1,500 - 2,500mm, but tolerates 1,000 - 3,000mm[3]. Prefers a freely draining, fertile, moisture-retentive, sandy soil and a sunny position[2, 4]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 6.5, tolerating 5 - 7[3]. Although it grows in mangrove swamps, this species seems intolerant of high salinity[1]. It can tolerate occasional inundation by salt water so long as the salt is then flushed out by fresh water[4]. Trees can flower all year round[4].
Propagation
Seed - the fruits float in water, with the ridge upwards, and the seeds germinate readily in muddy substrates. When washed up on a beach, the flattened base of the fruit weakens, allowing moisture to penetrate. The fruit is split by the extruding thick, hard radicle, which develops into a primary root penetrating deeply into the soil[1]. The primary root branches soon, and subsequently the plumule extrudes[1]. Cuttings of mature wood. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Heritiera+littoralis>
Pollinators
Data unavailable
References
- [1]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
- [2]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
- [3]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
- [4]Tropical and Subtropical Trees - A Worldwide Encyclopaedic Guide. — Barwick. M. · Thames & Hudson, London · 2004 · ISBN 0-500-51181-0 ↩︎A superb book, very concise and well written, giving a wealth of information on 400 or more species including descriptions, habitat, cultivation details and plant uses. A wealth of colour photographs bring each plant vividly to life.
- [5]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
- [6]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.
- [7]African Flowering Plants Database — Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques. · http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php ↩︎Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map.
- [8]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
- [9]Philippine Medicinal Plants — http://www.stuartxchange.org/CompleteList.html ↩︎A lovely site, giving brief details on the medicinal uses of several hundred (over 400 at the last count) plants in the Philippines, plus a picture of each plant.
- [10]A Monograph of the Genus Heritiera, Aiton, (Sterculariaceae). — Kostermans A.J.G.H. · Herbarium Bogoriense, Indonesia. · 1959 ↩︎Somewhat dated, but an excellent monograph of the genus Heritiera. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
- [11]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.