Tuesday 21 May 2013

Excoecaria agallocha (Gewa)

Excoecaria agallocha grows in the drier and harder sandy mud near the terrestrial fringes of mangrove vegetation. The plant is 10-15 meter high with white latex which is irritating to the eyes and skin.
Leaves alternate,simple,obovate,leaf-margin distantly toothed,upto 9 cm. Wide. They are green in colour when young but becoming red and yellow tinted when mature. A distinctive pair of circular glands marks the point where the leaf blade joins the petiole.










The tree is easily recognized by the catkin like inflorescence. Minute yellowish-green unisexual flowers appear in May to July and the fruits ripen in August and September. The fruit is a 3-lobed capsule,rounded,smooth and 1.5 cm. in diameter. Germination epigeal. The bark is grey .  Wood is soft , whitish and used  for fuel and as raw materials for Newsprint paper mills and Match factories. The plants lack aerial root-structures and hence do not  exhibit true mangrove character..






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