Rhizophora mucronata Health Dictionary

Lam.

Family: Rhizophoraceae.

Habitat: The Sunderbans and along the Coromandel Coast and the Andamans.

English: True Mangrove.

Siddha/Tamil: Peykkandal, Kandal, Sorapinnai.

Folk: Kamo (Bengal), Kandal (Maharashtra).

Action: Bark—astringent. Used in the treatment of haemorrhages, haematuria.

The leaves contain 9.1, unripe fruits 12.0, ripe fruits 4.2, twig bark 9-12, and wood 7-14% tannins.

The leaves gave campesterol, cholesterol, 28-isofucosterol, beta-sitosterol, stigmasterol and stigmast-7-en-3 betaol. The plant gave alpha-and beta- amyrins, betulin, lupeol, oleanolic and ursolic acids; gibberellins have also been reported.

Honey collected from the flowers is reported to be poisonous.

R. apiculata Blume, also known as Kandal, is found mixed up with R. mucronata in the tidal marshes of India and the Andamans.