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 
to perfection, 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, are 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 antumn 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 liyes, 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 been 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. 
