White Mangrove

Organisms / Plants / Flowering Trees & Shrubs

Laguncularia racemosa

Camp Lulu Key (Rookery Bay Wildlife Refuge; 25.834N, 81.509W)

March 19, 2006

Photograph by David McGill

 

Descriptive Information

    Field Marks: This tree has a rounded crown with bright green, leathery leaves. It has a short crooked trunk with some pneumatophores, which are used for oxygen exchange, protruding through the ground around the base. The bark is rough and scaly.
    Size: 30-35 feet (9-11 m) tall.
    General Habitat: "Tidal swamps."
    Range: "Coastal peninsular Florida."

Field Observations
Pneumatophores are used for oxygen exchange, they are root-like structures protruding through the ground, brown in color with distinct white spots and nubs on top where oxygen exchange occurs. The length varies from a few inches to approximately 1.5 feet. They are scattered sparsely throughout the sandy area around the base of the tree.

The trunk is a dark color at the base and grows lighter towards the top. The trees have intermingled branches and trunks with a common root. The bark is scaly and rough. New branches have a reddish color.

The leaves are smooth with an average size of 2-3 inches long. They are bright green in color with a reddish color stem. There are two protrusions at the base of the stem that are thought to be glands.

Some species of mangrove are found slightly inland from the coastal waters. White mangroves are often found intermingled with black and red mangroves. The white mangrove differs from black mangroves in the leaf structure. Black mangroves’ leaves are salty to the taste, fuzzy, and have visible salt crystals on the surface, while the white mangroves have smooth, bright green, leathery leaves. Also, the pneumatophores on the black mangroves are clustered together close to the base of the tree, while the white mangrove pnematophores are scattered scarcely throughout the sand around the base. The root structures of the red mangrove do not have pnematophores, but, unlike the black or the white mangroves, they do have prop roots.

References
Alden, Peter, Richard B. Cech, Amy Leventer, Gil Nelson, and Wendy B. Zomlefer. National Audubon Society Field Guide to Florida. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998.

Additional Photographs
Leaves
Bark
Pneumatophores
Trunk

Page developed by David McGill and Lana Lucht