Kuhlhavah (ކުއްޅަވައް), also known as Mangrove Apple (Sonneratia caseolaris) photographed in Maafallu Fengadu in Kulhudhuffushi City, North Maldives. This is a pioneering species that colonizes newly formed mudflats (Terrados et al. 1997), and can expand rapidly in number, especially in optimum conditions of low salinity. The roots of the tree is thick, tall peg type, robust above ground blunt pneumatophores roots. The leaves and the fruit are edible (and is quite delicious).
Habitat loss has significantly dropped the number to this species, making Kuhlhavah very rare.
Note: Pneumatophores roots: lateral roots that grow upward out of the mud and water to function as this site of oxygen intake for the submerged primary root system
P.S. If you don't know the folk tale: "Kuḷḷavah Falu Rani" (Queen of the Mangrove Forest) suggest reading 'Folk Tales of the Maldives' by Xavier Romero-Frias
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