''Xylocarpus granatum'', commonly known as the cannonball mangrove, cedar mangrove, or puzzlenut tree, is a species of

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

in the mahogany family (

Meliaceae Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs (and a few herbaceous plants, mangroves) in the order Sapindales. They are characterised by alternate, usually pinnate leaves without stipules, and by syncar ...

). It is found in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologi ...

and the Pacific Islands. It is a common species of mangrove, and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

Description

''Xylocarpus granatum'' is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree, growing to a maximum height of . The trunk has buttresses and above-ground roots which extend for long distances to either side. The bark is brown and smooth, and comes away in flakes. The leaves are

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

and arranged spirally on the twigs; they have two to four pairs of leaflets and are pale green when young and darken with age. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

grows in a short panicle in the axil of a leaf or at the end of the shoot. The individual flowers are wide, with parts in fours, and are white or pinkish-yellow. They are followed by large, spherical, woody capsules, in diameter, which split open to reveal up to a dozen seeds. The common name "puzzlenut tree" derives from the irregular shape of the seeds: a puzzle can be made of shuffling the seeds and attempting to reassemble them into the original spherical arrangement.

Distribution and habitat

This species is native to the tropical and sub-tropical

Western Indo-Pacific The Western Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the eastern and central Indian Ocean. It is part of the larger Indo-Pacific, which includes the tropical Indian Ocean, the western and centra ...

region. Its range extends from Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique (in which it is one of ten mangrove species) to India, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, northern Australia and Papua New Guinea; it grows in the higher intertidal zone and is found in estuaries and lining the banks of creeks.

Uses

The wood is hard and durable and can be used for boat-building, construction and making furniture, however the trees are twisted and often hollow so large pieces of timber may not be available; the wood is also used for tool handles and other small items, and can be used as firewood but burns rather quickly. The bark is rich in

tannin Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' (from Anglo-Norman ''tanner'' ...

s and has been used for strengthening rope and dying cloth. The bark, fruits and seeds have been used in

traditional medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...

Status

Mangroves in general are under threat from coastal development and from harvesting, and another threat is

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

and the consequent rise in sea levels. ''Xylocarpus granatum'' is a common species of mangrove with a very wide range, and it is probably not declining at a sufficient fast rate to be included in any threatened category. For these reasons, the

has listed it as being of "

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q419998 Mangroves Meliaceae Plants described in 1784 Flora of Somalia Flora of East Tropical Africa Flora of Mozambique Flora of Madagascar Trees of Seychelles Trees of China Trees of the Indian subcontinent Trees of Indo-China Trees of Malesia Trees of the Pacific Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of Queensland Eudicots of Western Australia Western Indo-Pacific flora Central Indo-Pacific flora