136 The Botanical Gazette. [May, 



man could scarcely make his way ten feet, the absence of life, 

 except the devilish looking crabs., crawling around on the 

 roots, the stillness, and often the vile odor of rotten oysters, 

 all combine to make a mangrove swamp, though fascinating, 

 a place to be left as soon as possible, and I always felt, on 

 leaving as if I were being chased by all sorts of bacterial germs. 

 In some places land is being reclaimed from the sea quite 

 rapidly by these swamps. The trees live only in salt water 

 and die off as soon as the land is dry. Thus the inner edge 

 of a swamp is composed of dead or dying trunks or loop like 

 roots, while the outer edge is constantly pushing out into the 



water as soil is gradually accumulated by the roots. This 

 extension seaward is carried on first by means of the aerial 

 roots which either spring from the arched roots, in which case 

 they curve outward and downward, or from the branches, 

 when they drop nearly vertically. These frequently branch 

 and re-branch before reaching the mud in which they become 

 fastened. 



The second method is by means of the young piantlet, 

 whose radicle elongates considerably before dropping from 

 the tree, so that it is all ready to start out in life as soon as 

 released. It is 8 or 10 inches long and cigar-shaped, thus 

 placing the center of gravity near the lower end. In this 

 condition it is carried in the water till the lower end strikes 

 the mud, when roots are sent down, the leaves are developed 

 and a young mangrove is started. 



Along the seashore one sees an abundance of the seaside 

 grape, » 8 named from the likeness of the clusters of fruit to our 

 cultivated Vitis and not from habit, for it is a straggling shrub 

 or tree with large, round, smooth and unusually red-veined 

 leaves. 



Another common plant of the lowlands and one which the 

 collector is likely to remember with regret is the necker-bean. l7 

 This is a more or less climbing shrub, having the stem, peti- 

 oles and even the under side of the midribs armed with re- 

 curved prickles and bearing clusters of spiny pods which contain 

 about two drab seeds of the size of marbles The hand is 

 easily introduced to gather the flowers, but the withdrawal is 

 resisted by dozens of prickles — like a patent rat-trap. 



1 6 Cocoloba uvifera. (Polygon. ) 

 17 Guilandina Bonducella. (Legum.) 

 18 Coix lachryma. (Gram.) 



