Changes

  :Protologue: Lamk, Encycl. M√©thMéth. Bot. 4: 696 (1798).

*''Bruguiera rheedii'' Blume (1827), *''Bruguiera cylindrica'' (non Blume) Hance (1879), *''Bruguiera conjugata'' Merr. (1914).

*A moderate-sized, evergreen tree up to 36 m tall; bole 40-65 cm in diameter, buttressed and with kneed pneumatophores. Bark grey to almost black, roughly fissured, usually with large corky lenticels on buttresses and base of stem. Branching mostly sympodial. *Leaves decussately opposite, simple and entire, coriaceous, elliptic to oblong, 8.5-22 cm √ó 5-7(-9) cm; base cuneate, rarely obtuse, apex acute; nerves 9-10 pairs; petiole 2-4.5 cm long, often reddish; stipules about 4 cm long, often reddish. *Flowers solitary, 3-3.5 cm long, generally nodding, with 1-2.5 cm long pedicels, which are bright red on the outside curve; calyx red to pink-red, lobes (10-)12-14(-16), tube usually ribbed at the upper part; petals 13-15 mm long, 2-lobed with acute lobes, each with 3-4 long bristles, outer margins fringed with white silky hairs especially at the base; stamens 8-11 mm long, with linear anthers, embraced by the petals, and twice the number of the petals; ovary inferior, style about 15 mm long with filiform stigma. *Fruit a campanulate berry enclosed by the calyx tube, 2-2.5 cm long, 1-celled and 1(-2)-seeded. *Hypocotyl cigar-shaped, slightly angular, with a blunt narrowed apex, perforating the apex of the fruit and falling with it, 15-25 cm √ó 1.5-2 cm.

This species belongs to Aubr√©villeAubréville's model of architecture.

Like red mangrove ( ''Rhizophora mucronata'' Poiret), black mangrove is viviparous, i.e. the seeds germinate while still attached to the tree. After the seedlings are released they fall vertically into the mud and immediately become established. It is one of the largest trees of the mangrove, and probably the longest living. In Cambodia and Vietnam it flowers abundantly in the rainy season from May to November.

Other species of the genus ''Bruguiera'' Lamk, which has 6 species altogether, are used in the same way as ''B. gymnorhiza'' . Three species are also common in mangroves in South-East Asia.

Seedlings may be attacked by mangrove crabs like ''Scylla serrata'' , ''Sesarma meinerti'' , and ''S. smithii'' . In Cilacap (Indonesia), plantations have suffered from caterpillars of the genus ''Acanthopsyche'' , but these pests have been controlled successfully by using Dimercon 100 at concentrations of 0.1%.

* Tomlinson, P.B., 1986. The botany of mangroves. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. xii + 413 pp. |4| * Watson, J.G., 1928. Mangrove forests of the Malay Peninsula. Malayan Forest Records 6: 1-275.