Characters: Colonies form compact bushes up to 0.5 metres across. Axial and incipient axial corallites are distinctive. Radial corallites are usually a mixture of sizes and are short, barrel-shaped, and strongly appressed.
Colour: Dark lower parts of branches and white upper parts.
Similar Species: Acropora loripes, which has straighter branches which do not form many branchlets. See also A. valida, which has thicker branchlets and larger corallites. The white branch ends are distinctive underwater.
Habitat: Shallow reef environments, especially on horizontal substrates.
Abundance: Sometimes common and may be a dominant species.
Taxonomic Note: Based on assessment of Nemenzo's type at UP, Wallace (1999) considered this species to be similar to Acropora loripes, which has a wide range of growth-form. These species are readily distinguished; A. lianae characteristically forming small, tightly compact, corymbose colonies as Nemenzo (1967) described. The white branch tips of dark lower branches is distinctive in the field.
Taxonomic References: Nemenzo (1967);
