02 January 2010

Tree with ribbon-like appendages


I presume this is some type of mangrove, but I don't know for sure.
Red mangroves, which can survive in the most inundated areas, prop themselves above the water level with stilt roots and can then absorb air through pores in their bark (lenticels). Black mangroves live on higher ground and make many pneumatophores (specialised root-like structures which stick up out of the soil like straws for breathing) which are also covered in lenticels. These "breathing tubes" typically reach heights of up to thirty centimeters, and in some species, over three meters. There are four types of pneumatophore—stilt or prop type, snorkel or peg type, knee type, and ribbon or plank type. Knee and ribbon types may be combined with buttress roots at the base of the tree. The roots also contain wide aerenchyma to facilitate oxygen transport within the plant.
Photo credit. Click to biggify.

2 comments:

  1. .
    looks like a ceiba
    there's a famous one
    on isla vieques
    off puerto rico
    .

    ReplyDelete
  2. It looks like a kapok tree to me. I've seen them in Key West. Ceiba pentandra is the scientific name.

    ReplyDelete

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