PHYSIOLOGY OF THE RED MANGROVE. 597 



into Arabia, Syria and Irak. On his return to Spain he published 

 his work, "Al Rihla," "The Journey," and died at Seville in 1239. 

 This book, "Al Rihla," is not extant, but Abou's disciple, Ibn 

 el-Beithar, has preserved citations from the book, as well as other 

 Moorish writers, Ibn Hassan and Abou Hanifa. The references 

 to the Rh'wophora are very clear and it is due to these Moors that 

 the mangrove was given the name kcndela, which is an Arabic word. 

 Both Abou Hanifa and Ibn Hassan describe the plant kendela and 

 the former says" that " The water of the sea is injurious to every 

 species of wood except the quorm (Avicennia) and the kendela 

 (Rhizophora)," and under species " 1981 kendala " he says: "It is 

 a plant which grows in the country of the Deibol (on the sea of 

 Oman) and which spring up in the sea. In that country it is em- 

 ployed in the tanning of hides, known under the name of leather 

 of Deibol, which is red and thick. It furnishes also a red bark 

 which is used as part of medicaments for the mouth and of those 

 which are used to stop hemorrhages." 



The name kendela was later spelled candela or kandila by the 

 sixteenth and seventeenth century botanists and applied to the 

 mangrove on account of the resemblance of the prolonged hypocotyl, 

 as it hangs on the tree, to candles. 



From 1230 to 1526 is another long gap in the literature on the 

 mangrove. About this latter year Oviedo^- put forth his book deal- 

 ing with his travels in the Indies. The observations of this early 

 Spanish explorer and those of his successor give us the first glimpse 

 of the vegetation of the western hemisphere from a purely botanical 

 standpoint. Later botanists quote Oviedo and Clusius" (1584) and 

 Peter Martyr" (1577) and several particularly mention Oviedo's 

 experience with the fruit of Rhhophora. " I nevertheless," he says, 

 " from its use (as food) fell into sickness although I am not so 

 delicate nor accustomed in time of want to abstain from those foods 

 which I see others eat, but neverthless, although there was no 



i^Abou Hanifa, " Ibu el-Beithar," Leclerq. Notices des Manuscrits, T. 

 23, 25, 26. 



12 Oviedo, G. P., " Primera Parte de la Historia Natural general de las 

 Indias," 1526. 



13 Clusius, Carolus, " Rariorum Plantarum Historia," 1601. 

 1* Martyr, Peter, " Edens. History of Travel," 88, 143, 1577. 



