Buy native mangrove plants in Singapore!

Where can I buy Singapore's very own mangrove plants? Look no further than Uvaria Tide!

A vast array of mangrove trees and plants, including very rare ones are on sale in Singapore! As well as native aquatic and other plants! These don't need to be planted in seawater and can do well in your garden or pond!

After years of experimenting and refining growing techniques, and much labour of love, the good folks at Uvaria Tide including Boo Chih Min and JC Chua are now able to offer lots of native plants for sale! These are taken from plants IN Singapore, and thus these baby plants help preserve the genetic stock of Singapore's own mangrove biodiversity. No reason now to buy mangroves from Malaysia or Thailand! These come from different genetic stock and may mess up our native mangrove stock which are already under so much pressure.

Uvaria Tide's stocks of local native plants include the world's rarest mangrove tree, what Dr Yong dubbed the 'Panda of the Mangroves'. So far, I know Singapore has FOUR of these rare Bakau mata buaya (Bruguiera hainesii). Incredibly, Uvaria Tide has propagated seedlings from these mother trees and these baby 'Pandas' are now for sale!

Another very rare tree is the Pisang-pisang (Kandelia candel). The last known plant on the mainland was recently lost, but new ones found on our more remote Northern shores. And these have been raised to literally new heights and are for sale!

The Catalogue of Mangrove Plants gives us a glimpse of the other hardworking people behind this incredible effort to make our mangrove plants available for everyone.

See how tall these rare mangrove plants have grown!

There is also a catalogue of other native plants

And a catalogue of aquatic plants too.

Visit the Uvaria Tide facebook page to find out more fascinating aspects about finding, growing and protecting Singapore's native mangrove species. One of these is the story of the very rare Api-api jambu (Avicennia marina).

Can mangrove plants be grown successfully in my garden? Don't they need seawater?
Yes, mangrove plants can do well in a typical garden. They don't need seawater! Uvaria Tide recommends these plants for your garden and pond.

Plants for your garden
Among plants recommended for a typical garden is Nyireh bunga (Xylocarpus granatum). Also called the Mangrove Cannon-ball tree, it has impressive bowling ball sized fruits, pretty camo-pattern peeling bark and delicate flowers!

Uvaria Tide also recommends Nyireh (Xylocarpus rumphii) which is Critically Endangered. As far as I know, there are less than 10 of these trees in the wild in Singapore! This tree has smaller fruits and lovely almost heart-shaped leaves.

Other plants recommended for the garden are these with colourful flowers and interesting foliage: Teruntum merah (Lumnitzera littorea) with bright red flowers and glossy green leaves, and Dungun (Heritiera littoralis) with velvety pink flowers and metallic leaves (rather like Durian leaves). Both are Endangered.

Plants for your pond
If you have a pond, you might consider some of these recommendations by Uvaria Tide. Berembang (Sonneratia caseolaris) has gorgeous flowers that bloom at night with starry fruits. This tree is Critically Endangered with only a handfull of mother trees in the wild.

Thought to be extinct until a mother tree was discovered at Pulau Tekong, the awesome Tumu Berau (Bruguiera sexangula) has lovely yellow flowers that develop into the typical intriguing 'fruits' of the mangroves. It is Critically Endangered.

Other trees and plants recommended for the garden pond include: Bakau putih (Bruguiera cylindrica), Tumu (Bruguiera gymnorhiza), Teruntum merah (Lumnitzera littorea) and Gedabu (Sonneratia ovata).

Uvaria Tide provides consultancy for mangrove and forest restoration, use of native plants in urban landscapes and forested areas and other specialty issues. They also conduct floristic surveys and can advise on plant propagation issues. Besides mangroves, they are also working on aquatic plants, native species of Singapore and biodiesel plants.

Visit Uvaria Tide on facebook

You can also contact them
Boo Chih Min uvaria@hotmail.com
Chua Jit Chern cjcspark@live.com

Your support for Uvaria Tide will help them continue their good work in this rather thankless but important task of protecting Singapore's genetic stock of native plants!