Sea Poison Tree

Barringtonia asiatica

Sea Poison Tree is a small to medium-sized tree growing to 7–25 m tall. It has large leaves held in rosettes at the ends of branches. The leaves are narrow obovate, 20–40 cm long and 10–20 cm broad. The young leaves are a beautiful bronze with pinkish veins. Old leaves turn yellowish. 

Barringtonia asiatica is a species of Barringtonia native to mangrove habitats on the tropical coasts and islands of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean from Zanzibar east to Taiwan, the Philippines.Sea Poison Tree is a beach tree native of Asia and Australia. Sandy beaches and coastal regions with a dash of salt in the soil is the ideal place for these trees to grow best.

This species is included in the Global Compendium of Weeds (Randall, 2012), and at present it has only been listed as invasive for the Dominican Republic (Kairo et al., 2003).  However, considering that B. asiatica has a great dispersal capability and its fruits can remain viable and floating on the sea for many months, the likelihood of reaching and colonizing new coastal areas is high. 

 

Sources : Google Images & Wikipedia