Botanical art
Prior names
Avicennia tomentosa, partly
Avicennia marina var. australasica
Avicennia officinalis, partly
Avicennia marina var. resinifera
Common names
Mangrove
Grey Mangrove
Etymology
Avicennia named after the celebrated Perso-Arabian physician Ibn Sina (980 - 1037), whose name was Latinised as Avicenna, who's medical works had a great repute in Europe during and after the middle ages. Marina from Latin 'marinus' meaning marine, referring to its habitat.
Distribution and status
Found along the coast of South Australia from Denial Bay to Hindmarsh Island, growing on tidal mudflats of bays, estuaries and creek-mouths. Also found in Western Australia. Native. Common in South Australia. Common in Western Australia.
Herbarium regions: Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Yorke Peninsula, Southern Lofty, Green Adelaide
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Mangrove shrub or small tree 10 m high, glabrous except on the flowers. Leaves coriaceous, shortly petiolate, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, to 8 cm long and 4.5 cm wide, glossy-green above, whitish or grey beneath with minute scales. Inflorescences dense clusters of sessile orange-yellow flowers in the upper axils, to 15 mm diameter, which distinguish it from the other subspecies (Avicennia marina ssp. austrolasica) which have flowers to 5 mm diameter. Flowering throughout the year. Fruit a compressed-ovoid capsule, to 3 cm long, opening by 2 thick valves with radicle escaping from the capsule and germinating in the mud.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between January and December. Collect mature capsules off the plant or on the ground next to the plant. No cleaning is required if only seeds are collected. However, seeds can not be stored long term. Seeds are recalcitrant, that is they do not survive drying and freezing and cannot be stored long term for ex-situ conservation. Seeds are recalcitrant and will germinate readily.