Kandelia candel (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Kandelia candel (L.) Druce

Family: Rhizophoraceae

Synonyms

• Kandelia rheedii Wight & Arnott,
• Rhizophora candel L.

Vernacular names

• Brunei: lingajong, lingajong laut, pulut-pulut
• Malaysia: lingayong, bakau aleh-aleh, beus
• Thailand: rangkathae
• Vietnam: vẹt [dd]ìa, vẹt thang.

Distribution

Coastal areas of India, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Indo-China, eastern China, Taiwan, Japan, Peninsular Malaysia, north-eastern Sumatra, and Borneo (West Kalimantan, Brunei, and Sabah).

Uses

Used as a green manure. The wood is used as fuelwood, for charcoal production and for temporary constructions. The bark is suitable for tanning heavy leather and for dyeing in red and brown colours.

Observations

• Evergreen shrub or small tree, up to 7 m tall. Stem base thickened, without buttresses or pneumatophores; bark reddish or greyish-brown, spongy.
• Leaves decussate, elliptical-oblong or narrowly so, to obovate-oblong, 6-13 cm × 2-6 cm.
• Flowers in an axillary, cymose inflorescence; calyx deeply 5-lobed, the lobes reflexed in fruit; petals white, multifid; stamens many.
• Fruit ovoid, with the sharply pointed hypocotyl developing while still on the tree.

K. candel occurs locally on banks of tidal rivers among other mangrove species, but is rather rare. The bark contains about 17% tannin.

Selected sources

• Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. 2nd Edition. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2444 pp.
• Flora Malesiana (various editors), 1950-. Series 1. Volume 1, 4-. Kluwer, Dordrecht & Flora Malesiana Foundation, Leiden, the Netherlands.
• Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viêt-nam [Flora of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam] (various editors), 1960-. Volume 1-. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Laboratoire de Phanérogamie, Paris, France.
• Smitinand, T., Larsen, K. & Hanssen, B. (Editors), 1970-. Flora of Thailand. Volume 2-. Danida, TISTR Press, Bangkok, Thailand.
• Wealth of India (various editors), 1948-1976. A dictionary of Indian raw materials and industrial products: raw materials. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, India. 4441 pp.
• Whitmore, T.C. & Ng, F.S.P. (Editors), 1972-1989. Tree flora of Malaya: a manual for foresters. 4 volumes. 2nd Edition. Longman Malaysia Sendirian Berhad, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Authors

• M.S.M. Sosef & L.J.G. van der Maesen