Heritiera littoralisLooking Glass Mangrove

The Heritiera littoralis takes its common name from the underside of its leaves, which are covered in fine silvery scales that flash white when the wind turns them. It is a landward mangrove associate, found along tropical shorelines from East Africa through Asia to the Pacific, and it carries the tall plank buttresses typical of trees that hold ground in soft coastal soils.

In a designed landscape it is used at the water's edge, on reclaimed shoreline and in coastal parks, where salt in the soil and in the air rules out most other canopy trees.

Specifications

• Height8 to 20 metres, occasionally to 25 metres
• Width6 to 12 metres
• Native toTropical coasts of East Africa, southern Asia, northern Australia and the Pacific Islands
• FoliageLeathery elliptic leaves, glossy dark green above and distinctly silvery-white beneath; evergreen
• Growth rateModerate

Conditions

• SoilSuited to sandy and heavy coastal soils; tolerates brackish and periodically inundated ground
• LightFull sun
• WaterModerate; tolerant of saline groundwater
• ClimateThrives in tropical coastal regions with high humidity

Additional Features

• UsesShoreline and estuary planting, coastal parks, reclaimed foreshore and shelter belts
• SpacingPlant 8 to 10 metres apart, allowing room for the buttress roots to develop
• Low MaintenanceNeeds little once established; the natural form requires no shaping
• Pest ResistanceRobust in exposed coastal conditions
• Salt ToleranceGrows in brackish soils and tolerates direct salt-laden wind
• FormBroad crown carried on tall plank buttresses
• Environmental BenefitsStabilises soft shoreline soils and contributes to coastal shelter

The Looking Glass Mangrove is a specialist shoreline tree, chosen where salt, wind and unstable ground defeat conventional canopy planting.