xxxii THE COAST OF ECUADOR 487 



tiliaceus, and other trees. Above the city, Polygonum glabrum 

 was growing in dense masses at the river's edge, whilst Pontederia 

 and Pistia flourished on the low muddy banks and floated in 

 quantities in the river. 



Before quitting the subject of the mangrove-formation of 

 Ecuador, I will refer shortly to the two varieties of Rhizophora 

 mangle that here occur. Baron von Eggers received the impres- 

 sion that the common type of this species, a low tree bordering the 

 coast, did not exist in Ecuador, such a type as he says is charac- 

 teristic of the West Indies and of Central America, and, I may add, 

 also of Fiji. The species he regards as acquiring a new facies in 

 Ecuador, where it exists as tall forest-trees, branchless for half 

 their height, and exhibiting other divergent characters. However, 

 I found that the common type of the species occurs normally on 

 the coast in the vicinity of Puerto Bolivar, thirty miles east of 

 Tumbez, a district above described. 



There are two distinct forms of Rhizophora mangle exhibited 

 in the mangrove-belt of the coasts around Puerto Bolivar. One 

 of them, which the indigenes name " mangle chico," is a small tree, 

 10 to 15 feet high, with useless timber, that immediately borders 

 the sea, and, in fact, largely forms the margin of the swamp, not 

 only on its seaward side, but also on the land side, where it passes 

 into drier ground. The other, the "mangle grande," a tall tree 

 reaching to 60 or 80 and sometimes perhaps to 100 feet in height, 

 composes the interior, and indeed the bulk, of the mangrove-belt, and 

 possesses a hard and durable timber much employed in the district. 



Distinct as these two types are, it is not difficult to find 

 intermediate forms, and, in truth, in some localities they prevail. 

 But the interesting point is that this peculiar Ecuadorian type of 

 the species, a type that attracted the attention of the eminent 

 German botanist, comes near the " Selala," the mysterious seedless 

 Rhizophora of the Fijian swamps a subject fully discussed in 

 Chapter XXX., where I have compared the Fijian and Ecuadorian 

 Rhizophoras. Both the " Selala" of Fiji and the " mangle grande " 

 of Ecuador are intermediate between the American Rhizophora 

 mangle and the Asiatic R. mucronata, resembling the last in their 

 inflorescence, but in other points approaching the American 

 species. The " Selala," however, comes nearer to the Asiatic 

 tree, whilst the " mangle grande " comes nearer to the American 

 tree. Unlike the Fijian tree, that of Ecuador is not sterile, but 

 matures its fruit; and it displays no evidence of the vegetative 

 reproduction so characteristic of the " Selala." 



