Calophyllum inophyllum CALOPHYLLACEAE
Local name: Penaga Laut
A common seashore tree of sandy beaches around Borneo. The round nuts are covered with a thin fleshy green pericarp when ripe. This pericarp is eaten by small Cynopterus fruit bats which fly past the tree at night and take the fruit to be eaten at a nearby feeding roost. If the ripe fruit falls to the ground or floats away on the tide then the pericarp is eaten by small hermit crabs.
Photo by María Fernanda González Giraldo.
BARRINGTONIA ASSOCIATION: Callophylum innophyllum is one of about 30 sea dispersed plants found along the Borneo coast known as the Barringtonia Association which are primarily sea dispersed. The sea carries the nuts long distances between islands whilst hermit crabs and fruit bats disperse the seeds short distances inland.
