This Tree Can Take Anything!

            When most people think of trees, they envision a mountainside of pine trees or a plethora of deciduous trees changing colors during the holiday season. The Mangrove tree is unique in that it grows in shallow saltwater and its roots tolerate oxygen deficient soils. The key to survival are the tree’s special root called pneumatophores that have adapted to grow out of the soil and absorb oxygen from the earth’s atmosphere.

 

            Pneumatophores, also called “breathing roots” have a spongy surface with special air channels that are the site for gas exchange. Within the root, there is an internal pathway in which oxygen gas travels down to the roots of the mangrove.

            There are three main mangrove species in Fiji: white mangroves, black mangroves and red mangroves. Red mangroves have elliptical leaves and prop roots that grow downward from its branches. White mangrove leaves are round and greenish- yellow in color. Finally, the leaf of the black mangrove is the narrowest of the three and has small hairs on the underside of the leaf. Black mangroves have the breathing root systems that sprout out of the ground, mentioned above. The most important difference between these species is how the root system is arranged. Red mangroves have roots that grow downward from the branches, black mangroves have pneumatophores, and white mangrove may have either type, based on the surrounding environmental conditions.

           Human uses of mangrove wood are vast. Scientists have learned to derive a variety of medicines from the tree that are useful for skin disorders, sores, headaches, rheumatism, snake bites, boils, ulcers, diarrhea, and hemorrhages. Perhaps the mangrove’s ability to survive in harsh surrounding equates to medicinal uses for humans who are also suffering from intense illness and suffering.

  

by: Max McGee

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"Mangrove/Wetland Ecosystems." MES Fiji RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. <http://mesfiji.org/resources/environment/mangrovewetland-ecosystems>.

"TYPES OF ROOTS." Types of Roots. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. <http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/generalbotany/typesofroots/>.

Picture Citations:

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"Patana Gateway." Bangkok Patana School. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://www.patana.ac.th/students/viewGallery.asp?hGalleryID=175>.

 "Www.seabean.com - A Sea-Bean Guide: Red Mangrove (Rhizophora Mangle)." Seabean RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://www.seabean.com/guide/Rhizophora_mangle/>.