HALOPHYTE SOCIETIES. 



251 



tions are not possible, but that halophytes are plants which 

 have succeeded in living in halophyte conditions. If they 

 find other conditions, they may grow with even greater 

 vigor. 



Halophytes are mostly succulent plants, with the leaves 

 thick and often translucent. This indicates the presence 

 of water reservoirs, and also the fact that the plants are 

 poor in chlorophyll. The succulent habit is common also 



FIG. 204. A mangrove forest advancing into the water. After SCHIMPEU. 



among xerophytes, a group which halophytes further re- 

 semble in the small leaves and often prostrate habit. If 

 halophytes with such adaptations are transplanted into 

 more favorable conditions, as into a mesophyte area, the 

 plants become taller and thin-leaved. 



The evidence seems to show that the presence of the 

 salts in the soil, at least in the amount in which they 

 occur, interferes with the nutritive work of the plant. 

 Certainly the plant seems to make food with difficulty, a 



