Plant Name
Scientific Name: Rhizophora mangle
Common Names: Red Mangrove, American Mangrove
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial, Evergreen
Growth Habit: Tree, Shrub
Hawaii Native Status: Introduced. This naturalized weedy plant is native to the southeastern United States, the Caribbean, and tropical America.
Flower Color: Yellow
Height: Up to 30 feet (9 m) tall or more in favored locations, but typically less here
Description: The flowers are small, shaggy-haired, and have 4 fleshy, narrow, point-tipped petals. The flowers are followed by brown, egg-shaped, single-seeded fruits that sprout while still on the tree. The sprouted seedlings each have a stout, up to 10 inch (25 cm) long, green to brown, point-tipped root. If these seedlings fall from the tree into the soil, the roots can stab into the soil and plant the seedling. However, if the seedlings fall into the sea, they can float away, sometimes traveling for months until they encounter land where they can grow. The leaves have a prominent paler midrib and are stiff, leathery, dark green above, paler green below, opposite, petiolate, and elliptical in shape. The plants have arching, above ground stilt roots or prop roots that help anchor and elevate them.
These thicket-forming plants grow in brackish and salt water intertidal zones in flat, wave-protected coastal areas.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Rhizophorales
Family: Rhizophoraceae – Red Mangrove family
Genus: Rhizophora L. – mangrove
Species: Rhizophora mangle L. – red mangrove
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