314- RHIZOPHORA MANGLE MANGROVE. 25 



314. RHIZOPHORA MANGLE L. 



MANGROVE. RED MANGROVE. 

 Ger., Mangelbaum. Fr., Paletuvier rouge. Sp., Mangle Colorado. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER : See ordinal and generic descriptions. Leaves oblong 

 to oval, 3 l /2 to 5 in. long, acute or bluntly pointed, cuneate at base, glabrous dark 

 green above, paler beneath, with entire revolute margins, rather obscure straight 

 veinlets and broad flat midrib and petiole, l / 2 to I in. long; stipules conspicuous 

 when the leaf unfolds and some attaining a length of nearly 2 in. Flowers 

 appearing continuously throughout the year, nearly I in. across when expanded, 

 on 2-3-branched peduncles from i to 2 in long. Fruit about I in long, with 

 roughish chocolate-brown surface and firm thick-walled protruding radicle and 

 finally a woody tube protecting the plumule. 



The Mangrove is a low wide-spreading tree usually, but when 

 crowded together and obliged to grow upright may attain the height 

 of 75 to 80 ft. (25m.) and its trunk is sometimes 3 or 4 ft. (im.) in 

 diameter. The bark of trunk is of a reddish gray color, fissured into 

 low close ridges and these again transversely, giving a very character- 

 istic appearance. It is red inside. 



The Mangrove is a wonderful tree in its adaptation to battling for 

 life under conditions which few trees could survive. It forms the van 

 of advancing vegetation upon almost every tropical sea-coast and gives 

 a foothold to less hardy species. It grows along the tidal marshes and 

 mud-flats, where the shifting tides do not permit ordinary seeds to find 

 lodgment, but not so with ithose of this tree. They drop as darts into 

 the mud already sprouted, and there they stick, right end up, safe 

 ordinarily against dislodgment. 



They rapidly then put out roots and leaves and established existence 

 commences. As growth advances the tree, as though conscious of the 

 necessity of the strongest possible foothold, puts out additional roots 

 from along its trunk, and finally its wonderful aerial roots form the 

 branches, until, with guys well out on all sides, it is so firmly estab- 

 lished that the waves of tempests can not dislodge it. Falling leaves 

 and trash of all sorts floating on the water are ithan caught and held 

 by its maze of roots and literally the growth of land is effected. In 

 this new land, in time, the less hardy species become established and 

 thrive. 



HABITAT. Skirting the sea coasts of the American tropics, 

 encroaching so far upon the sea that a species of oyster is found in 

 abundance attached to its exposed roots between tide marks, and 



