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Beach and Foreshore Plants of the Capricorn Coast Beach Almond Terminalia catappa Also known as Indian Almond, Bengal Almond, Singapore Almond, Malabar Almond, Tropical Almond, Sea Almond. Beach Almonds are large, handsome trees growing to 35 m tall, with an upright, symmetrical crown and horizontal branches, as the tree gets older, its crown becomes more flattened to form a spreading, vase shape. The leaves are large, 15-25 cm long and 10-14 cm broad, ovoid, glossy dark green and leathery. The leaves form a rosette and are found only at the end of a branch. During the dry season, the leaves turn into autumn colours of red, copper and gold. before falling. The green almond-shaped fruit turns red to purple when ripe, the smooth outer skin covers an inner layer of corky fibres which surround the nut, the seeds are dispersed by water.         Above are two Beach Almonds growing in Yeppoon, the one on the right is the standard form having been protected from the prevailing winds while the left one has assumed a prostrate habit because of exposure to those winds.                   Beach Almond seeds are very popular with Red-tailed Black Cockatoos who obviously enjoy eating them green, the cockatoos cut off many branchlets which are then "processed" by others on the ground, I have been told that many seeds are deliberately left for later use. The photograph on the right would seem to support this where the seeds have only had the fleshy outer part eaten, I haven't photographed the Cockatoos eating these dry seeds but will keep an eye on them when the cockatoos return in the warmer weather.