I love mangroves. My kids can ID them right away. The three main types here in Florida are the Black Mangrove (Avicennia germinans), White Mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), and Red Mangrove (Rhizophora mangle).
As soon as I saw the salt shining from this Black tree I needed sun tea! Since this is salt water, mangroves have a special way to take out or work with salt. You can clearly see the salt shining in the sun on this Black mangrove leaf! Which is why I wanted to make sun tea! Licking it is a possibility and we’ve done it before for fun ID. They are salt secreters. The top side of this leaf is shiny and the underside is more muted and lighter in color and fuzzy.
Here is the Black Mangrove flower.
And seeding...
We also have the other 2 kinds of mangrove out back. The White is more spoon shaped and is lighter in color with 2 little nodule-like bumps called nectaries by the stem. They are sugar glands.
Here is the White Mangrove flower.
And seeding...
Finally, you will find the Red is closer to the Bay with its long legged prop roots. Here is a photo of its leaves. They are super thick, protected from salt, darker green, and pointy.
Red mangrove flowers!
I’m excitedly waiting for the pencil-like propagules!
They will grow to pencil length…
