Botanical name: Rhizophora apiculata    Family: Rhizophoraceae (Burma Mangrove family)

Tall-Stilt Mangrove is a tree 20-30 m tall. Leaves are narrowly-elliptic, almost eye-shaped, 8-15 cm long, glossy green and stiff, with tiny evenly distributed black spots on the underside. Stipule is often red. Flowers appear in pairs on very short stalks so they appear to be arising directly from the branch. The bract is brown, hard and thick. The yellow to white petals are flat, membranous and hairless, falling off soon after blossoming. The fruit looks like a brown, upside down pear and is crowned by persistent sepals. The cylindrical hypocotyl can be up to 38 cm long, somewhat smooth, green with purple. Bark is dark gray and checkered. The tree has prominent arching stilt roots that can extend 5 m up the stem. Often also with lots of aerial roots emerging from the branches so that the tree appears to have a skirt of roots under the leaves.

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The flower labeled Tall-Stilt Mangrove is ...