722 



White Mangrove 



is about 1.04. The bark is astringent and has been used in the West Indies for 

 tanning. 



The generic name is Greek, based on the statement of Patrick Browne that 

 in Jamaica " on the flower spikes of this tree you may sometimes find fructifica- 

 tions something in the form of a bull's horn." There is but one species known. 



IV. WHITE MANGROVE 



GENUS LAGUNCTJLARIA C. F. GARTNER 

 Species Laguncnlaria racemosa (Linnaeus) C. F. Gaertner 

 Conocarpus racemosus Linnaeus 



HE White mangrove, also called White buttonwood, is common on the 

 seashores of the West Indies, Mexico, and Central America, and is 

 also reported from western Africa. It enters our territory in penin- 

 sular Florida and some of the Keys, where it is commonly only a shrub, 

 but attains a maximum height of about 20 meters, with a trunk diameter of 8 dm. 

 The branches are stout and short, forming an oblong round tree. The bark 



is about 6 mm. thick, fissured into 

 long reddish brown scales. The twigs 

 are round or slightly angular, dark 

 reddish brown and smooth, thickened 

 at the nodes. The leaves are oppo- 

 site, thick and leathery, oblong to oval 

 or obovate, entire-margined, 2 to 7 

 cm. long, rounded or notched at the 

 apex, rounded, narrowed, or slightly 

 heart-shaped at the base, dull green 

 and smooth above, paler beneath, the 

 leaf-stalk stout, 5 to 20 mm. long, 

 -White Mangrove. ^j^h 2 glands. The flowers are per- 



fect or polygamous, in few-flowered clustered spikes 3 to 6 cm. long, with small 

 hair}' bractlets; the persistent calyx is 5-lobed, the lobes semiorbicular, sharp- 

 pointed; petals 5, nearly orbicular, not longer than the calyx; stamens 10; fila- 

 ments awl-shaped, the anthers heart-shaped; ovary i -celled, style short, terminated 

 by a somewhat 2-lobed stigma. The fruit is a leathery, lo-ribbed, obovoid to 

 oblong, reddish drupe about 15 mm. long. 



The wood is hard, strong, dense and yellowish brown; its specific gravity is 

 about 0.86. The astringent bark is sometimes used for tanning, and in medicine. 

 The genus is monotypic, but one species being known. Its name is Latin, 

 from the fancied resemblance of the fruit to a flask. 



Fig. 662. 



