CHAPTER LIII: THE MANGROVES 



The true mangrove family, Rhi^ophoracece, of fifteen genera, 

 Is chiefly confined to the tropical regions of the Old World. One 

 genus with a single species reaches the extreme end of Florida. 

 Two other species of the genus Rhizophora are found in tide 

 pools and marshes of Asiatic and African equatorial waters. 

 The remarkable habit of throwing out aerial roots from trunks 

 and limbs, and of germinating its seeds before they fall enable 

 the mangrove to extend its range on all sides, encroaching upon 

 the surrounding water slowly but surely. The secondary roots 

 fasten themselves in the soil, and the young plantlets, as they fall, 

 strike root at varying distances from the parent tree. The 

 flotsam and jetsam brought in and out by tides lodge among the 

 network of roots and stems, and thus new soil is formed. 



Red Mangrove (Rhizophora Mangle, Linn.) A round-topped 

 tree, 15 to 25 feet high, with drooping, aerial roots. Occasionally 

 75 feet high, with small, narrow head. Bark reddish brown or 

 grey, irregularly broken by shallow fissures; branches smooth. 

 IVood reddish brown, streaked with paler brown, hard, heavy, 

 close grained. Leaves persistent, thick, oval, blunt, 3 to 5 inches 

 long, dark green and shining above, paler beneath; margins entire. 

 Flowers, axillary, perfect, 2 to 3 on short stalk, petals 4, yellow, 

 hairy inside; ever-blooming. Fruit berry-like, i inch long, with 

 leathery, rough, brown skin; 4 calyx lobes curl back from base, 

 and tube of developing cotyledon of germinating seed protrudes 

 from apex. Preferred habitat, along coasts and rivers in wet soil. 

 Distribution, Florida from Mosquito Inlet to Cedar Keys, rounding 

 the southern end of the peninsula, and outlying islands. Uses: 

 Wood for wharf piles and fuel. Bark yields tannin, and a decoction 

 of it is used as a febrifuge. 



This is the true mangrove of the West Indies and the Florida 

 coast, found also along the Pacific coast of Mexico and Lower 

 California. With the coral polyp it co-operates to extend the 

 borders of island and mainland. It spreads in monotonous green 

 thickets over marshy coast plains and in the estuaries of rivers, 



401 



