Heritiera utilis
Heritiera utilis
Safety & Hazards
The wood may cause dermatitis, although it is generally considered non-toxic and non-allergenic[1].
Cultivation Details
A plant of the moist, lowland tropics, where it is found in regions with an annual rainfall of 1,500 - 2,500mm[1]. Older plants are light demanding, but seedlings and saplings can tolerate shade for several years and then start to grow immediately once the canopy is opened[1]. Plants seem to prefer loamy soils to sandy soils[1]. Plants are intolerant of drought, although trees with the best-shaped boles occur on well-drained localities[1]. Seedlings develop a taproot with numerous lateral roots. Growth is fairly slow with seedling reaching about 1 metre tall when 15 months old and 5 - 7 metres tall when 5 - 6 years old[1]. At this time the stilt-like buttresses may start to develop[1]. Natural pruning is quite good, but the bole is nevertheless often slightly sinuous, especially in swamp forest[1]. Plantation trees in Sierra Leone showed an average annual diameter growth of 1.7cm over the first 15 years, by which time they had reached a height of 20 metres[1]. In plantations without shade trees in Cote d'Ivoire, the average growth is up to 1 metre per year during the first 4 - 5 years, but then accelerates to 2 metres per year until 10 years old[1]. In a 62-year-old plantation in Cote d'Ivoire, mean annual bole diameter increment was 1 cm for the largest trees (20% of all trees), but in natural forest it is about 0.4 cm[1]. In plantations the timber can be harvested after 50 - 60 years, when the boles have attained an average diameter of 50cm[1]. Trees start setting fruit when 15 - 17 years old. The fruits may be dispersed by wind, but they are not very light and do not travel far[1].
Propagation
Seed - it has no dormancy and is best sown as soon as it is ripe. The seed is sown in a semi-shaded position in a nursery seedbed, leaving the wing protruding above soil level[1]. Germination rates of 80% or more can be expected with the seeds sprouting in 3 - 14 days[1]. Saplings are traditionally planted out when 18 - 30 months old and 1 - 1.5 metres tall, but increasingly they are being planted when 8 - 9 months old and 30 - 50cm tall[1]. Pruning of lateral roots about one month before transplanting promotes the formation of a dense system of short lateral roots, enhancing the chance of successful establishment in the field[1]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Heritiera+utilis>
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]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.
- [3]Tropix 7 — CIRAD · http://tropix.cirad.fr/en ↩︎An on-line guide to the timbers of 245 species of trees.