Lumnitzera
Encyclopedia
Lumnitzera is an Indo-West Pacific mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...

 genus in the family Combretaceae. The English common name is Black Mangrove. Lumnitzera, named after the German botanist, Stephan Lumnitzer (1750-1806), occurs in mangroves from East Africa
East African mangroves
The East African mangroves are an ecoregion consisting of mangrove swamps along the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa in southern Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and southern Somalia.-Location and description:...

 to the Western Pacific (including Fiji and Tonga), and northern Australia.
The genus has two species of similar vegetative appearance but with differing flower colour. Lumnitzera littorea has red flowers whereas Lumnitzera racemosa has white flowers. Both species have flat and spoon-shaped (spathulate) leaves with emarginate tips. L. racemosa dominates in the western part of the range and L. littorea dominates in the east. Hybrids occur within the zone of overlap.

Three genera of the tropical woody family Combretaceae, Laguncularia
Laguncularia
Laguncularia is a genus of plants in the family Combretaceae, with ten species:*Laguncularia coccinea Gaudich., syn. for Lumnitzera littorea*Laguncularia glabriflora C.Presl, syn. for Laguncularia racemosa?...

, Conocarpus
Conocarpus
Conocarpus is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Combretaceae, native to tropical regions of the world. One of the species is a widespread mangrove species, the other is restricted to a small area around the southern Red Sea coasts, where it grows alongside seasonal...

, and Lumnitzera, are found in mangroves but Lumnitzera is the only one to occur in the Indo-West Pacific mangroves, including Australia.
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