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Sonneratia alba
Lythraceae FAMILY Least Concern

Sonneratia alba

Sonneratia alba

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
Growth—

A plant of moist coastal areas in the tropics. It succeeds in areas with no dry season as well as those with a dry season[PFAF]. Prefers a sunny position[1]. Prefers soils of consolidated mud and sand[2]. Prefers a heavy soil, but tolerates most soil types[1]. Grows in areas that are inundated by salt water at high tides. Prefers a pH in the range 6.7 - 7.3, but tolerates 6.5 - 7.5[1]. Plants are tolerant of strong, salt-laden winds. The tree responds well to coppicing[3]. The flowers are nocturnal, opening in the evening and falling off in the morning[3].

Propagation

Seed - it has a low viability of less than three months[2]. Air layering[4]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Sonneratia+alba>

Pollinators

Bats

References

  1. [1]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.
  2. [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. [3]Online Guide to Chek Jawa — http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/index.html ↩︎Brief fact sheets on some of the plants growing in the Mangrove swamps and along the adjoining shore line.
  4. [4]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.
  5. [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. [6]Flora Malesiana Series 1 — Various · Nationaal Herbarium Nederiand, Universiteit Leiden branch · http://www.archive.org ↩︎A massive treatment of the plants of the Malaysian Archipelago. Much of it has been made available to download from the Internet
  7. [7]Minor Products of Philippine Forests — Brown. W. H. · Bureau of Forestry, Manilla. · 1920 ↩︎A useful guide to some of the plants of the area, though terse on details. The book is out of copyright and can be legally downloaded from the Internet.
  8. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎