The timber is tough and dark brown. It can be used as a tanning agent, as dye and in medicines. It has substantial value as fisheries and wildlife habitats.
Milky mangrove
Milky mangrove leaves often grow in a mixed mangrove community and have leaves that may be green or yellow.
Excoecaria agallocha (milky or blind-your-eye mangrove) is a member of the Euphorbiaceae family, and distributed from northern New South Wales up to Queensland and through to Western Australia.
In Queensland, it is a mangrove of the upper tidal limits that occurs at the landward fringe of the community, often in mixed stands with the grey mangrove, river mangrove and white-flowered black mangrove (Lumnitzera racemosa).
Description
Milky mangrove grows up to 10 m high and has grey to fawn-brown bark marked with longitudinal rows of corky brown air pores. It has surface roots that uptake oxygen when exposed to air at low tide.
Its pale green to yellow leaves are attached alternately on the stems, and measure up to 11 cm long and 4 cm wide. They are oval with a pointed tip, rounded at the base and often finely toothed at the edges.
Milky mangrove timber is light, soft and pale.
The major feature of this mangrove is the milky sap that exudes from the plant when branches or leaves are broken. The sap is poisonous, and can cause severe skin irritation and temporary blindness if it comes into contact with the eyes.
The milky mangrove is so named because of the white sap that exudes when stems or leaves are broken.
Flowering and fruiting
Minute flowers 2 mm in diameter appear from October to April. Male and female flowers are located on separate trees and occur on spikes 2.5 to 3.5 cm long, growing from stems among foliage.
Fruiting occurs throughout the year with the appearance of small, three-lobed, fleshy, green capsules about 5 mm in diameter and arranged in clusters. Each lobe contains a single seed that is released from the capsule as it opens. The seeds are buoyant due to an air space within the seed coat, and they float with the tides and currents until they encounter a suitable soil. Germination then takes place and seedling development occurs.
Uses
Milky mangrove is used for incense, canoe construction, pollen for beekeepers, shoreline protection, and provision of habitat for marine and terrestrial wildlife. The sap may be used for fish poison and medicinally in treating chronic ulcerous diseases, such as leprosy.
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