Firefly mangrove (Sonneratia caseolaris)

Family: Lythraceae | Edibility: Edible (2/5)

Sonneratia caseolaris or known as Firefly Mangrove, Red-flowered Pornupan Mangrove, or Mangrove Apple is an evergreen, tropical, medium-sized tree with columnar crown growing about 6-20 m tall and 30 cm in trunk diameter, commonly in East Asia. It has pencil-like pneumatophores, or aerial roots. The trunk is swollen at the base when young. The leaves are thick but narrow, opposite, and leathery.

Edible Parts & Harvest Seasons

Edible Parts: Fruit, Berries, Leaves

Harvest Seasons: Early Summer, Fall, Late Summer, Spring

Flavor & Culinary Uses

Young berries - raw or cooked. They can be eaten as a fruit, or cooked as a vegetable. A sour flavour. A cheese-like flavour. The fruits are a source of pectin. Young leaves - raw. — Young berries - raw or cooked.; They can be eaten as a fruit, or cooked as a vegetable.; A cheese-like flavour.; The fruits are a source of pectin.

Habitat & North American Range

Coastal mangrove communities, tidal creeks, in muddy soil. Less salt parts of mangrove-forests on a deeply muddy soil, never on coral-banks, often along tidal creeks with slow-moving water and ascending these as far as the flood mounts. (Zone 10)