1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mangrove

MANGROVE. The remarkable “mangrove forests” which fringe tidal estuaries, overrun salt marshes, and line muddy coasts in the tropics of both Old and New Worlds, are composed of trees and shrubs belonging mainly to the Rhizophoraceae, but including, especially in the eastern mangrove formations of Further India and the Malay Archipelago, members of other orders of Dicotyledons, such as Lythraceae (Sonneratia), Verbenaceae (Avicennia), and the acaulescent Nipa-palm. Their trunks and branches constantly emit adventitious roots, which, descending in arched fashion, strike at some distance from the parent stem, and send up new trunks, the forest thus spreading like a banyan grove. An advantage in dispersal, very characteristic of the order, is afforded by the seeds, which have a striking peculiarity of germination. While the fruit is still attached to the parent branch the long radicle emerges from the seed and descends rapidly towards the mud, where it may even establish itself before falling off. Owing to its clubbed shape, this is always in the right position; the plumule then makes its appearance. An interesting feature of the mangrove is the air-roots, erect or kneed branches of the roots, which project above the mud, and are provided with minute openings (stomata or lenticels), into which the air passes and is then carried by means of passages in the soft spongy tissue to the roots which spread beneath the mud. The wood of some species is hard and durable, and the astringent bark is used in tanning. The fruit of the common mangrove, Rhizophora Mangle, is sweet and wholesome, and yields a light wine.