352 PLANTS OP NEW ZEALAND 



oval nut, 1-celled, 1-seeded. Seed a large embryo, cotyledons very broad and 

 thick. (Name in memory of a celebrated Oriental physician). 1 sp. 



Avicennia officinalis {The Mangrove). 



A tree, with spreading branches, growing in salt creeks and estuaries. 

 Leaves 2in.-3in. long, oblong, obtuse, leathery. Flower-panicles yellowish- 

 brown, corolla J in. long. North Island : as far south as Thames River. Fl. 

 May-June. Maori name, Manmva. (Forster originally named this plant .4. 

 resinifera, from the belief that the gum chewed by the natives came from this 

 source. This gum was perhaps kauri-gum. Lindley, in his " Vegetable 

 Kingdom," when speaking of the jMangrove, improves upon Forster 's statement 

 thus: "It exudes a kind of green aromatic resin, which furnishes a miserable 

 food to the barbarous natives of New Zealand." The source of the error may be 

 traced to Crozet's " Voyage to Tasmania " ; v. Ling- Roth's Translation p. 36). 



This is the mangrove of the Auckland Coast. It is to be 

 found on all tidal flats north of Kawhia on the AVest, and of 

 Tauranga on the East Coast. The species, however, is not 

 endemic, but occurs also in Australia, throughout Melanesia 

 and Malaysia to India, and sporadically as far North as Mount 

 Sinai in the Red Sea. It is replaced by another species of the 

 same genus elsewhere in the tropical world. Mangroves have 

 been generally regarded as the pariahs of the forest, and 

 A. officinalis has not escaped the usual condemnation. Thus, 

 the following impassioned but somewhat inaccurate description 

 of it occurs in one of the earliest of New Zealand novels : — 



" Oh ! those mangroves. I never saw one that looked as if 

 it possessed a decent conscience. Growing always in shallow 

 stagnant water, filthy black mud, or rank grass, gnarled, 

 twisted, stunted, and half bare of foliage, they seem like 

 crowds of withered, trodden down old criminals, condemned 

 to the punishment of everlasting life. I can't help it if this 

 seems fanciful. Anyone who has seen a mangrove swamp will 

 know what I mean." 



Doubtless, however, much of the evil reputation of the 

 mangrove forest, is due to the fact that, to its presence, has 

 long been erroneously attributed the prevalence of malaria in 

 tropical river estuaries. Miasmatic vapours were supposed to 

 arise from the pestilential mangrove swamps, and spread their 



