38G BROWN PELICAN. 



The Mangrove. 



Rhizophora Mangle, Linn. Sjst. Nat. voL ii. p. 325. 



The species of Mangrove represented in the plate is very abundant 

 along the coast of Florida and on almost all the Keys, excepting the Tor- 

 tugas. Those islands which are named Wet Keys are entirely formed 

 of Mangroves, which raising their crooked and slender stems from a bed 

 of mud, continue to increase until their roots and pendent branches afford 

 shelter to the accumvilating debris, when the earth is gradually raised 

 above the surface of the water. No sooner has this taken place than the 

 Mangroves in the central part of the island begin to decay, and in the 

 Course of time there is only an outer fringe or fence of trees, while the in- 

 terior becomes overgrown with grass and low bushes. Meantime the 

 Mangroves extend towards the sea, their hanging branches taking root 

 wherever they come in contact with the bottom, and their seeds also 

 springing up. I am at a loss for an object with which to compare these 

 trees, in order to afford you an idea of them ; yet if you will figure to 

 yourself a tree reversed, and standing on its summit, you may obtain a 

 tolerable notion of their figure and mode of growth. The stem, roots 

 and branches are very tough and stubborn, and in some places the trees 

 are so intertwined that a person might find it as easy to crawl over them 

 as to make his way between them. They are evergreen, and their tops 

 afford a place of resort to various species of birds at all seasons, while 

 their roots and submersed branches give shelter to numberless testaceous 

 moUusca and small fishes. The species represented is rarely observed on 

 the coast of Florida of a greater height than twenty-five or thirty feet, 

 and its average height is not above fifteen feet. The Land Mangrove, of 

 which I have seen only a few, the finest of which were on Key West, is 

 a tall tree, much larger and better shaped than the other, with narrower 

 leaves and shorter fruits. 



