Fabaceae / Papilionaceae

Avicenniaceae
Avicennia marina (Forssk.) Vierh.
(Syn: Sceura marina (Forssk.))
English name: White Mangrove.
Local name: Timer.
Description:
Evergreen small tree up to 10 m in height. Trunk often with masses of small aerial
roots but no prop or stilt roots. Bark whitish to grayish or yellow-green, smooth,
Flowers tiny yellow to orange in color.
Flowering Period:
June-August.
Habitat:
Commonly found in intertidal zone in deltas and estuaries.
Uses:
Wood of the plant used for poles and ribs of boats. Bark yields a brown dye.
Leaves are used as camel fodder. The tree possesses a bitter aromatic juice,
used as an abortive in tropical Africa and Asia. Root
and bark are used as aphrodisiac, the wood for
snakebite, the aqueous extract of the seed for sores.
Unripe fruits are poultice onto wounds and leaves onto
skin ailments.
Distribution:
Coasts of East and South Africa, southern Asia,
Australia, and Oceania. From Egypt and Arabia along
shores of Red Sea and western Indian Ocean, eastward
along shores of Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, southeastern
and eastern Indian Ocean, South China Sea north to
Hong Kong and Taiwan, and islands of the Philippine Sea,
Coral Sea, and South Pacific to Western Australia and
New Zealand. In Pakistan it is found around the costal belt of
Sindh and Balochistan.
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