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64 
The Natural Hiftory of JAMAICA. 
The Mangrove Tree. 
This Tree rifes to thirty or forty Foot high, having a‘Trunc as big as 
one’s Body, anda greenifh white, {mooth, Bark, with fome white Spots 
here and there. The Tree has very many pendulous Branches {welling to- 
wards their Ends, where are plac’d 9 or 10 Leaves fet on round them by a 
half Inch long Footftalk, they are 4 Inches long and 2 broad, of the 
Shape of thofe of Lawrocerafus, fmooth, thick, of a dirty green Colour, 
and having one very large eminent Rib running the Length of the Leaf; 
theFlowers ftand on an Inch long Footftalk, are compos’d of 4 thick. yellow 
Petala, and asmany brown, with fome yellow Stamina in the Middle, 
being withia cover’d with a yellow Farina, to which follow Pod-like 
Subftances, having a Swelling at their Beginning, otherwife exadtly like 
Bobbins, with which Bone- Laces are wrought, that Protuberance is rough, 
and alittle redifh in Colour, about an Inch long, having within a Ca- 
vity fitted to receive the {mall Ends of the Pod-like Subftances, and into 
which they are fet, each of them is about fix Inches long, beginning flen- 
der, fwelling by Degrees to near the End, whereit is biggelt, and from thence 
ends inaPoint, exactly fhap’d like a Bobbin, havinga fmooth greenifh brown 
Rind, and within no Cavity or Seeds, but a Pith and fungous mealy Sub- 
ftance, which never ripens, or is otherwife than woody, for this Subftance in 
a {mall Time is on the under Branches lengthned,and fhoots out ftreight, 
hath a brown. Colour, the End very much fwell’d, and when ever it 
comes to the Salt Water or Mud, there it ftrikes Roots every Way, and 
in Procefs of Time becomes a Trunc, from the Tops of which Branches 
fpring and propagate themfelves after the fame Manner, fomething like 
that of the Ficus Indica. Theoph. {fo that whatever Branches are on the un- 
der Parts of the Trunc of the Tree, take Root, looking like fo many Ar- 
ches, and become Truncs themfelves in a very fhort Time, and thefe 
Mangroves propagate themfelves after this manner for a great many 
Miles in length along the Coafts and Rivers whither the falt Water 
flows. | 
What feems very ftrange in this Treeis, that the Pod-like Subftance 
feems to be as it were one fingle Seed, which being planted in that fun- 
gous Protuberance, by which it is faften’d to the Branch, thence as it were 
grows and fhoots our till it comesto the Water or Mud, faftening its felf 
and taking Root therein, what had been its Origin, Beginning, or Root 
formerly, now becoming its Top and Germex: Icould never obferve any 
black Pulp in this, as Oviedo did, neither any Seeds, but do firmly believe 
it propagates.it felf after the aforefaid manner, herein differing fiom the 
Indian Fig, which does it by Filamentsthrown down from the Branches 
taking Root in the Ground. i! | . 
They grow about Cartagena. Lact. - | 
Pifo fays thefe Pods had a bitter Pulp, but I could never obferye any, 
Marcgrave, that Land Crabs eat them, dw Tertre, that the Fruit 
was flat and large as a thirty Sols Piece, and eaten by Parrots; and 
Rochefort fays that the Bark tans. = : ron 
Pi Roots cut and tofted, apply’d, cure the Stings of the Fifh Nigaé. 
270. 
An Axnonimus Portugal of Brafil, lib. 7. cap. 1, ap. Parchas. p.1316...tells 
us that the Fruit, whichis hollow within, makes Flutes, that the Bark tans 
and makes Ink, and that the Wood is good for Building, W2i. Finch. ap. Pur- 
chas.lib, 4. cap. 4.§. 1. p..4t5- 36. p. 4516. found thefe Trees. with Oyfters 
on them fed on by the Negroes at Sierra leona, and Ravenean de Luffan 
mentions the Bay Manglares.in the South Sea near Panama, probably fo 
call’d from thefe Trees gowing there, — Gomara 
