MANGROVE CUCKOO. 221 



even in this usually genial clime but south of the headland above mentioned, perpetual 

 Summer holds undisputed sway and here the mangrove flourishes. But to see it growing 

 tn |>erf'eetion, one must visit the Keys where this singular tree may be found in all stages 

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

 describe it in detail as I shall frequently have occasion to speak of it in the forth-coming 

 pages of this work. 



The mangrove (Rhizophora Mangle) as implied above, invariably grows in soil which 

 is either constantly covered 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 fact, it appears to thrive best 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. The leaves 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, arc quite numerous and are divided into four petals which are yellow in color. They 

 bloom in winter; at Key West, as early as December but a little later further north. Then 

 the 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, falling below seventy degrees; thus the embryo mangroves are placed 

 under very favorable conditions for development and I have frequently seen them in the 

 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 

 which 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 

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

 with the top of a coral reef which has boon brought within a short distance of the surface, 

 they 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- 

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

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

 they pass harmlessly over it. The young tree grows rapidly upward, and after it has attained 

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

 which drop downward, resembling long, slender rods as they are almost exactly the same 

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

 but when they touch the earth, they drop roots, thus become fixed, then rapidly increasing 

 in size, soon acquire the firmness of the parent stem. 



