Red, White and Black mangroves

http://www.naturefoundationsxm.org/education/mangroves/mangroves.htm

 Red mangroves Rhizophora mangle

White mangroves Laguncularia racemosa

Black mangroves Avicennia germinans

The red belong to the Rhizophoraceae family, white Combretaceae family and black Acanthaceae family. 

Mangroves are terrestrial plants but when high tide occurs sea water covers the roots. The intertidal zone is a place between low and high tide, at hight tide floods and low tide air is exposed. The mangroves are home to large array of wildlife from birds to fish to insects. The mangroves help to keep the water clean as the roots acts a filter, to remove the pollution from the water. Red grows in the water, black is partially in the water and white are on land.

http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/basch/uhnpscesu/htms/npsapln2/fish_pops/rhizophor/rhimangl1.htm

Red Mangroves 

Red mangrove are known as the walking trees as their roots (prop roots) grown from the branches into the water. The roots keep the tree stable, as they roots are out of the water they are exposed to oxygen in the air. The roots help to protect the coral reefs by forming land by keeping hold of the soil and taking in the waste products from the water.The roots are home fish nest, they stay here until they are mature enough. 

The leaves are big, oval shaped and are a deep green. The leaves have wax to prevent water loss. 

The propagule is the fruit and it long and thin. Once the mangrove sapling (propagule) has fallen from the tree, it floats along the water for a while sometimes up to a year. Then they sink and the roots are anchored into the ground. 

http://portphillipmarinelife.net.au/species/12329

White Mangroves

The white mangroves grow on the land, like the red and black mangroves they also have pneumatophores.

White mangroves produce small, dried fruits. Once these sapling fall of the mangrove they also float along the water before planting the roots.

As the soil is very salty, this can dry the plant out, so they have adapted to push the salt out their systems by small pores on the leaves, the water is evaporated and the salt remains on the leaf, when is rains the salt remains are washed away. The leaves are rounded, thick and sturdy.

At the bottom of every leaf where the stem joins there are two nectaries which help to secrete sugar. 

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/southflorida/mangrove/zonation.html

Black Mangroves

The black mangroves had black wood which is durable and is used for construction as fuel. They are able to grow in mud and sandy substrates. The pneumatophores (roots) stick up from the ground to aid in oxygen intake to the tree. If the roots are flooded for a long period of time, the mangrove doesn't receive the oxygen, so it dies.


The leaves are oval shaped and green and white, the white is salt that the tree is removing.
The seeds are again mangrove saplings, they are oval shaped, once the sapling as falling of the tree it also floats, like the red mangrove.

They are home to birds, fish and mammals. They also help to protect the coast and coral reefs especially in high winds.

Designer, M. (2015). The White Mangrove | Nature Foundation St. Maarten. [online] Naturefoundationsxm.org. Available at: http://www.naturefoundationsxm.org/education/mangroves/the_white_mangrove.htm [Accessed 14 Apr. 2015].