BRUGUIERA GYMNORRHIZA (L.) Savigny (RHIZOPHORACEAE) — Burma Mangrove

This chapter provides information on the uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Burma Mangrove. The heavy wood is durable, but hard to saw and work. It is used for construction, furniture, house-posts, and pilings. Thousands of tons of Bruguiera wood chips are exported annually from Indonesia, Sabah, and Sarawak for pulp and for rayon manufacture. In Burma, leaves may contain 18.3% H 2 O, 13.5% tannin; outer cortex 14.6 and 7.9, outer cortex 14.2 and 10.8; twig bark 13.1 and 14.8, bole bark 16.3 and 31.7; whereas the bole bark of large trees contains 12.5% H 2 O, 42.3% tannin. Wood widely used for charcoal and fuel. For charcoal, the tree seems to rank with Rhizophora, with an even higher calorific value. Because of the heaviness of the wood, a cubic meter of mangrove wood is generally more valuable than the wood of other species.