Rhizophora. | RHIZOPHORE# (Sond.) 513 
Has. On dry rocks. Umhtoti, Natal, W. 7. Gerrard / (Herb. T.C.D.) 
A shrub, with the aspect of Q. indica, but with very much smaller flowers. 
Calyx tube about an inch long, clavate ; lobes 4-line long, tipped with rufous 
bristles. Petals 1-14 lines long and nearly as wide, silky on the outside, minutely 
hispidulous within. Filaments not % line long, the anthers of the longer stamens 
in the throat of the calyx ; those of the shorter quite included. 
Orper LXIII. RHIZOPHOREZ. 
(By W. SonpEr.) 
Flowers perfect, regular. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, wholly or 
in part ; limb 4-1 2-parted, persistent, with valvate estivation. Petals 
as many as the lobes of the calyx, inserted on a fleshy ring within the 
calyx-tube, sessile, either entire and flat, or bifid and inflexed at base, 
the lobes entire or laciniate. Stamens inserted with the petals, twice or 
thrice their number, rarely many times, usually in pairs opposite the 
petals ; filaments subulate ; anthers 2-celled, introrse, erect, slitting. 
Ovary inferior or half-inferior, 2—-4-celled, with ovules in pairs ; or very 
rarely unilocular, with 6 ovules ; style filiform or conical; stigma entire 
or 2-4-toothed ; ovules anatropous. Fruit coriaceous, crowned with 
the persistent calyx-limb, abortively unilocular and 1-seeded; seed 
exalbuminous, germinating before it falls ; radicle very long, issuing 
through the summit of the fruit. 
Trees or shrubs, natives of muddy sea-shores and estuaries in the tropics and 
warmer parts of the temperate zone. Branches opposite ; twigs 4-angled. Leaves 
opposite, petioled, simple, very entire, coriaceous, penninerved. Stipules inter- 
petiolar, on each side one, convolute, deciduous. Inflorescence terminal or axillary, 
cymose or capitate. Under the name of Mangroves, the shrubs of this family form 
tangled thickets on the muddy seashore, the seeds germinating before they fall, 
the long radicle issuing as a thread from the fruit, reaching the mud beneath before 
it loosens its hold above. Mangroves are among the few shrubs that vegetate in 
sea-water. The bark is astringent, and may be used as a febrifuge. 
TABLE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN GENERA. 
I. Rhizophora.—Flowers with 4 petals. 
II. Bruguiera.—Flowers with 10-13 petals. 
I. RHIZOPHORA, Linn. 
Calyx-tube obovate, adhering to the ovary ; limb divided into 4, 
ments. Petals 4, oblong, coriaceous, emarginate, 
oblong, persistent seg ; 
conduplicate, and when young embracing the alternate stamens, the 
margins each with a double row of long, woolly hairs. Stamens 8 ; 
anthers nearly sessile, large, linear-oblong. Ovary 2-celled, with 
» ovules ineach cell. Style conical, short, 2-furrowed. Stigma 2-den- 
tate. Fruit ovate or oblong, crowned near the base with the persistent 
segments of the calyx, longer than the tube, at length perforated at the 
apex by the radicle of the germinating embryo. Lam, Jil. t. 396. W. 
& Arn. Prod. 310. Endl. Gen. n. 6098. 
Trees, with quite entire leaves and axillary inflorescence. Name from fifa, a 
root, and popeo, to bear. 
1. R. mucronata (Lam. Dict. 6, p. 169) ; leaves petiolate, oval, ab- 
ruptly acuminated ; racemes nodding, dichotomous. 
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