Avicennia officinalis (Baen)

A large evergreen tree ( 15 to 20 meter tall ) of the mangrove of sundarbans grows along the river banks or depressions inside the forests.Mature A. officinalis often forms an extensive bushy growth with a partial hollow trunk. In sundarbans it often occurs in the inland depression. The leavs are obovate or broadly elliptic with a  destinctive rounded apex. The leaves are dark-green in colour but the under surface is greenish yellow.....

Orange-yellow flower ( 10 to 12 mm. in diameter )  appear from March to June and the fruits ripen from July to August. The fruit is compressed, somewhat heart-shaped,ovoid, 2 to 3 cm. long, one-seeded  capsule. The seeds germinate immediately they fall, or even on the tree. Fallen mature seeds drift with ebb and tide. The bark is smooth, dark brown or grey in colour and lenticellate. The wood is brittle and used as fuel. Its lateral roots spread in all direction through the mud send up outstanding finger like pneumatophores.