Laguncularia | |
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At Caeté estuary, Bragança, Pará, Brazil | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Myrtales |
Family: | Combretaceae |
Genus: | Laguncularia C.F.Gaertn. |
Species: | L. racemosa |
Binomial name | |
Laguncularia racemosa (L.) C.F.Gaertn. | |
Laguncularia is a genus of plants in the family Combretaceae. The only species in the genus is Laguncularia racemosa, [2] the white mangrove. [1]
It is native to the coasts of western Africa from Senegal to Cameroon, the Atlantic Coast of the Americas from Bermuda and Florida to the Bahamas, Mexico, the Caribbean, and south to Brazil; and on the Pacific Coast of the Americas from Mexico to northwestern Peru, including the Galápagos Islands. [1]
It is a mangrove tree, growing to 12–18 m (39–59 ft) tall. The bark is gray-brown or reddish, and rough and fissured. Pneumatophores and/or prop roots may be present, depending on environmental conditions. The leaves are opposite, elliptical, 12–18 cm (4.7–7.1 in) long, and 2.5–5.0 cm (0.98–1.97 in) broad, rounded at both ends, entire, smooth, leathery in texture, slightly fleshy, without visible veins, and yellow-green in color. The petiole is stout, reddish, and 10–13 mm (0.39–0.51 in) long, with two small glands near the blade that exude sugars. The white, bell-shaped flowers are mostly bisexual and about 5 mm (0.20 in) long. The fruit is a reddish-brown drupe, about 12–20 mm (0.47–0.79 in) long, with longitudinal ridges. The single seed is sometimes viviparous.
It grows in coastal areas of bays, lagoons, and tidal creeks, typically growing inland of other mangroves, well above the high tide line.
Swainson's thrush, also called olive-backed thrush and russet-backed thrush, is a medium-sized thrush. It is a member of genus Catharus and is typical of it in terms of its subdued coloration and beautiful, ascending flute-like voice. Swainson's thrush was named after William Swainson, an English ornithologist.
The clapper rail is a member of the rail family, Rallidae. The taxonomy for this species is confusing and still being determined. It is a large brown rail that is resident in wetlands along the Atlantic coasts of the eastern United States, eastern Mexico and some Caribbean islands. This species was formerly considered to be conspecific with the mangrove rail.
The reddish egret is a medium-sized heron that is a resident breeder in Central America, The Bahamas, the Caribbean, the Gulf Coast of the United States, and Mexico. The egret is known for its unusual foraging behavior compared to other herons as well as its association with mud flats, its habitat of choice.
The Combretaceae, often called the white mangrove family, are a family of flowering plants in the order Myrtales. The family includes about 530 species of trees, shrubs, and lianas in ca 10 genera. The family includes the leadwood tree, Combretum imberbe. Three genera, Conocarpus, Laguncularia, and Lumnitzera, grow in mangrove habitats (mangals). The Combretaceae are widespread in the subtropics and tropics. Some members of this family produce useful construction timber, such as idigbo from Terminalia ivorensis. The commonly cultivated Quisqualis indica is now placed in the genus Combretum. Many plants in the former Quisqualis genus contain the excitotoxin quisqualic acid, a potent AMPA agonist.
Conocarpus erectus, commonly called buttonwood or button mangrove, is a mangrove shrub in the family Combretaceae. This species grows on shorelines in tropical and subtropical regions around the world.
Cornus racemosa, the northern swamp dogwood, gray dogwood, or panicle dogwood, is a shrubby plant native to southeastern Canada and the northeastern United States. It is a member of the dogwood genus Cornus and the family Cornaceae.
Rhizophora mangle, the red mangrove, is distributed in estuarine ecosystems throughout the tropics. Its viviparous "seeds", in actuality called propagules, become fully mature plants before dropping off the parent tree. These are dispersed by water until eventually embedding in the shallows.
Avicennia germinans, the black mangrove, is a shrub or small tree growing up to 12 meters in the acanthus family, Acanthaceae. It grows in tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, on both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, and on the Atlantic Coast of tropical Africa, where it thrives on the sandy and muddy shores where seawater reaches. It is common throughout coastal areas of Texas and Florida, and ranges as far north as southern Louisiana and coastal Georgia in the United States.
The buff-throated saltator is a seed-eating bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It breeds from southeastern Mexico to western Ecuador and northeastern Brazil.
The Florida mangroves ecoregion, of the mangrove forest biome, comprise an ecosystem along the coasts of the Florida peninsula, and the Florida Keys. Four major species of mangrove populate the region: red mangrove, black mangrove, white mangrove, and the buttonwood. The mangroves live in the coastal zones in the more tropical southern parts of Florida; mangroves are particularly vulnerable to frosts. Mangroves are important habitat as both fish nursery and brackish water habitats for birds and other coastal species.
The mangrove cuckoo is a species of cuckoo that is native to the Neotropics.
Conocarpus is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Combretaceae, native to tropical regions of the world. One of the species is a widespread mangrove species, and the other is restricted to a small area around the southern Red Sea coasts, where it grows alongside seasonal rivers.
Heritiera littoralis, commonly known as the looking-glass mangrove or tulip mangrove, is a mangrove tree in the family Malvaceae native to coastal areas of eastern Africa, Asia, Melanesia and northern Australia. The common name refers to the silvery appearance of the underside of the leaves, resembling a mirror to some degree. The strong timber has uses in marine applications and elsewhere.
Barringtonia acutangula is a species of Barringtonia native to coastal wetlands in southern Asia and northern Australasia, from Afghanistan east to the Philippines, Queensland and the Northern Territory. Common names include freshwater mangrove, itchytree and mango-pine.
The brown-headed crow is a passerine bird of the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Endemic to Indonesia, it has a fragmented distribution in subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical mangrove forest. It is threatened by habitat destruction and the IUCN has rated it as being "near-threatened".
The Mexican mouse opossum is a species of North American opossum in the family Didelphidae.
Aratus pisonii, commonly known as the mangrove tree crab, is a species of crab which lives in mangrove trees in tropical and subtropical parts of the Americas, from Florida to Brazil on the Atlantic coast, and from Nicaragua to Peru on the Pacific coast. It feeds mostly on the leaves of the mangroves, but is an omnivore, and prefers animal matter when possible. A. pisonii is the only species in the monotypic genus Aratus. The specific epithet pisonii commemorates the Dutch naturalist Willem Piso who travelled in Brazil in 1638 with Georg Marggraf.
Rhizophora racemosa is a species of mangrove tree in the family Rhizophoraceae. It has a patchy distribution on the Pacific coast of Central and South America, occurs in places on the Atlantic coast of that continent, and has a more widespread range on the Atlantic coast of West Africa.
Rhizophora harrisonii is a species of plant in the family Rhizophoraceae. It can be found in Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guiana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad, Tobago, and Venezuela.
The Trinidad mangroves ecoregion covers the separate mangrove forest areas on the coast of the island of Trinidad, in the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The character of the mangroves is affected by the large amount of fresh water flowing out of the Orinoco River and Amazon River to the south, which flow northwest around the island. The mangroves of Trinidad are found on all coasts, and are usually in the estuaries of rivers, but also found in coastal lagoons.