About Sonneratia caseolaris (L.) Engl.
Sonneratia caseolaris, commonly called mangrove apple or pagatpat, is a mangrove tree species in the family Lythraceae. Its fruit is outwardly similar to persimmon fruit. This tree can grow up to 20 m tall, with a trunk that reaches a maximum diameter of 50 cm. It grows on tropical tidal mud flats across a wide range: from Africa to Indonesia, south to northeast Australia and New Caledonia, and north to Hainan Island (China) and the Philippines. It produces conical pneumatophores, also called "knees", that grow up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in height. The fruit of this tree features in a Maldivian folk legend called Kulhlhavah Falu Rani. In the Dhivehi language, this species is called kuhlhavah (ކުއްޅަވައް). Across southeast Asia, this tree is associated with congregating fireflies, and it serves as a food source for moths and other insects. Both the leaves and fruit of Sonneratia caseolaris are edible, and they are used as food in certain regions including the Maldives. In Sri Lanka, the fruit is called kirala gédi (කිරල ගෙඩි) in Sinhala and Kārk koṭṭaikaḷ (கார்க் கொட்டைகள்) in Tamil. The fruit pulp is mixed with coconut milk extract to make a milk shake. Many tourist resorts in southern Sri Lanka, where the tree grows abundantly along rivers, serve fresh fruit drinks made from this fruit. In the Maldives, the fruit is used to make a refreshing drink, and it is also eaten mixed with scraped coconut and sugar. This tree is sometimes called cork tree, because fishermen in some areas shape its pneumatophores into small floats for fishing nets.
