AMERICAN MANGLE. 
97 
same manner, thus forming an almost impenetrable 
barrier on the borders of the sea. 
The leaves are opposite, entire, coriaceous, at first 
folded inwards, with caducous stipules between the 
petioles. The flowers are pale yellow, the segments of 
the calyx lanceolate. The anthers are subulate; the 
margin of the petals pilose. The style bifid, with the 
divisions rather long and subulate. The verdure of 
the Mangrove is dark and gloomy, and the whole tree, 
inhabiting a region of desolation, presents an aspect of 
sadness. 
The most extraordinary plant of this, or rather a 
nearly allied genus, is the Rhizophora gymnorhiza of 
Linnaeus, (now Brugiera .) This tree grows commonly 
in the maritime marshes of India, and the branches of 
its numerous roots ascending into the air produce the 
appearance of a large umbrageous tree, as it were, on 
stilts, or as Roxburgh says, supported in the air on a 
circle of converging hop-poles. The fruit, the leaves, 
and the bark of this species are also said to afford food 
to the native inhabitants. A figure of it is given by 
Rumphius, vol. 3. t. 68, and by Rheede, in the Flora 
Malabarica, vol. 6. tab. 31, 32. 
Plate XXIV. 
A branch of the natural size. a. The fruit. 
13 
