MANGROVE CUCKOO. . ^'^^ 



oven in fliis usuiilly gonial clime but south ol' tlio hoailland ahovc mentioned, perpetual 

 Summ r h-.A.U undisputed sway and hero tho mangrove llourislios. But to see it growing 

 to porlbction, one must visit the Keys where this singular tree may be found -n all stage;? 

 of development. Although I have previously alluded to the mangrove, I think it best to 

 <loscril)e it in detail as I shall frequently have occasion to speak of it in the Ibrth-coming 

 pages (if this work. 



Th(! mangrove {Rhizophora Mangle) as implied above, invariably grows in soil which 

 is either constantly covorCvl with salt water or is overflowed by the tide twice a day. The 

 peculiar constituents of sea water appear to be necessary for its support as when it grows 

 on the banks of rivers, it is only found along their margins as far as the tide-water extends; 

 in fac't, it appears to tlirive I)est in those shallow bays or lagoons on the extreme southern 

 coast of Florida where, by constant evaporation, the water becomes so impregnated with 

 salt and lime as to be fairly bitter to the taste while it is greenish-white in color. Al- 

 though usually but a shrub or, at best, a small tree some fifteen feet high, under the favor- 

 able circumstances of which I have spoken, it often attains the height of fifty, or even 

 seventy-five, feet with trunks which measure nearly a foot in diameter. Tho loaves are 

 oval in form, quite thick in structure, with a polished upper surface, and of such a dark 

 olive-green as to appear quite brown in the distance. The bell-shaped blossoms, though 

 small, are quite numerous and are divided into four petals which are yellow in color. They 

 bloom ill winter; iit Key West, as early as December but a little hiter further nurth. Then 

 tlie fruit which is long and cylindrical in form, slightly curved, slowly comes to maturity, 

 ripening in the autumn when it falls into the sea where it floats in an upright position. 

 The water of the Gulf of Mexico and among the Keys is always of quite a high tempera- 

 ture, rarely, if ever, filling below seventy degrees; thus the embryo mangroves are placed 

 under very favorable conditions for development and I have frequently soon them in tho 

 open ocean with a small tuft of leaves growing upward at one extremity while the rootlets 

 would be starting downward at the other. Perhaps there are few plants in the world 

 wliich form such important agents in land making as the mangroves for they not only exist 

 in the earlier stages of their lives, under circumstances in which many plants would perish, 

 being constantly submerged in the saltest of sea water, but will take root on anything that 

 cifors them a foot-hold. Thus when the floating, cigar-shaped embryos come in contact 

 with tho top of a coral reef which has been brouglit within a short distance of the surface, 

 tliey will almost invariably become fixed to it and as the roots grasp the rock firmly, in- 

 sinuating themselves into every crack or crevice, when once attached it is almost impos- 

 siliie for the waves, even if they arc impelled by the force of a hurricane, to tear them away 

 fir, as the huge billows come sweeping along, the willowy plant merely bows before them and 

 t!)ey pass harmlessly over it. The young tree grows rapidly upward, and after it has attained 

 llio height of several feet, develops a wonderful character, for it now sends out root-stalks 

 Vvfhich drop ilownward, resembling long, slender rods as they are almost exactly the same 

 Ki;;o at the bottom as at the top. They are extremely elastic and sway with every breeze, 

 l);it when they touch the earth, they drop roots, thus become fixed, then rajiidly increasing 

 in ;;i:',o, soon acquire the firmness of the parent stem. 



