Appearance & recognition
White api-api has glossy leaves with very pale undersides and small yellow-orange flowers. Pencil-like breathing roots rise from shallow underground roots. Leaf salt glands help explain its success in tidal mud. The accepted family is Acanthaceae, although older mangrove books may use a separate Avicenniaceae or place it in Verbenaceae.
Sources & references · 1
National Parks Board Singapore · Avicennia alba — Flora & Fauna WebRange & habitat
This mangrove can colonise newly formed coastal mudbanks. The seed germinates inside the fruit before dispersal, but does not form the long exposed propagule familiar in Bruguiera. Shoreline position, salinity and sediment conditions shape establishment. Its roots and leaf physiology make coastal adaptation visible without treating every mangrove as the same kind of tree.
