Pyrrhanthus littoreus Jack, Malayan Misc. 2(7): 57. 1822; Bruguiera littorea (Jack) Steudel; Laguncularia coccinea Gaudichaud-Beaupré; L. purpurea Gaudichaud-Beaupré; Lumnitzera coccinea (Gaudichaud-Beaupré) Wight & Arnott, nom. superfl.; L. purpurea (Gaudichaud-Beaupré) C. Presl; Petaloma coc cinea (Gaudichaud-Beaupré) Blanco.

Trees to 7(-25) m tall; trunk to 0.5 m d.b.h. Bark dark blackish brown, deeply longitudinally fissured. Branchlets reddish or green when young, glabrous. Leaf blade dark green adaxially, oblanceolate or narrowly oblong-oblanceolate, (2-)4-8 × 1-3 cm, apex retuse or rounded; lateral veins in 4 or 5 pairs. Inflorescences terminal, 3-4.5 cm. Calyx tube 12-18 mm; bracteoles 1.5-2 mm; lobes broadly triangular, 1-1.5 mm, apex obtuse. Petals bright red, oblong-elliptic, 5-6 mm, apex obtuse or acuminate. Stamens 5-10 (usually 7), ca. 10 mm, ca. 2 × as long as petals. Style ca. 10 mm. Fruit blackish brown when ripe, fusiform, 1.6-2 cm × 4-5 mm excluding stipe, longitudinally striate; stipe ca. 5 mm. Fl. Nov-Dec, May, fr. Jun-Aug.

This species was listed as endangered in China by Ko (in Fu & Jin, China Pl. Red Data Book 1: 224-225. 1992).

Open remnant mangrove forests along sea shores. S Hainan (Lingshui, Yaxian) [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; N Australia, Pacific islands].