Kacang-kacang in Our Northern Mangroves

Today was my lucky day, as we found two Kacang-kacang (Aegiceras corniculatum)! I had previously seen this locally endangered plant on Pulau Ubin, but unfortunately while I had gotten photos of the fruits, the plant was destroyed before I managed to get photos of the flowers. So you can imagine my joy when we found two of them today at one of our mangrove forest today!


Here are the pretty white flowers with a few flower buds.


The flowers of Aegiceras corniculatum are used for decoration in some places, and some women also wore them in their hair as they release nice fragrance.


Here's a look at the withered flowers and young fruits, which came with pinkish tips.


The young fruits look like little green chillies.


Maturing fruits that look like beans, and hence the common name "Kacang-kacang", which means beans.


The bigger fruits of the Aegiceras corniculatum were pinkish in colour. Each fruit contains a seed, which will germinate and break through the seed coat while still attached to the tree. However, the seedling will not break the fruit wall until the fruit drops. This condition is called cryptovivipary.


Here's a wider shot of one of the trees. It was about 3m tall. This tree is also valued for its timber, and is used for making charcoal in some places.

Certainly hope to find more of this tree at our other mangroves! :)