7i6 



Mangrove 



margined, dark green, smooth and shining above, paler with prominent midrib 

 beneath; the elongated stipules are deciduous. The axillary' peduncles are i to 4 

 cm. long, bearing 2 or 3 pediceled flowers; the calyx is sharply 4-lobed and leathery; 

 petals yellowish white, hnear or nearly so, long hairy; stamens 8, in 2 sets, with 

 short filaments; ovary partly inferior, conic, 2-celled, with 2 awl-shaped styles 

 with stigmatic tips. The berry is conic, leathery, 2 to 2.5 cm. long, rough, brown, 

 subtended by the persistent, reflexed calyx-lobes ; the seed, usually sohtary, germi- 

 nates in the fruit while this is still attached to the tree, its radicle forcing its way 

 out and growing downward, suspended from the fruit, often until it becomes 2.5 

 to 3 dm. long before falling off and taking root in the mud, soon forming a new 

 plant ; these with the arching aerial roots that develop from the trunk and branches 



Fig. 656. — Mangrove. 



of the older plants form a network, which not onlf prevents the trees from being 

 washed away by the waves, but affords a place of lodgment for all sorts of debris, 

 the constant accumulation of which in time raises the ground above the surface 

 of the water, thus increasing the land and hterally making "islands grow." 



The wood is hard, close-grained, strong, dark red-brown and satiny; its specific 

 gravity about 1.16. It is used for fuel, and for wharfs and docks, not being bored 

 by the marine worm-like moUusk Teredo. The astringent bark is used for tan- 

 ning leather. 



The name is Greek, in reference to the aerial roots borne on its branches. 



There are 2 other species known from the coasts of tropical Africa, the East 

 Indies, and AustraUa, their habits being very similar to the American tree, which 

 is the type species. 



