MANGROVES are plants, shrubs, and trees, of the natural order Rhizophoracem, Lindley. In the East Indies, the principal are—Bruiguiera caryophylloides, cylindrica, eriopetala, gy innorhiza, Malabarica, parviflora, and Rheedii ; Carallia garcinifolia, lancemfolia, lucida, Zeylanica, and Candollianus ; Rhizophora conjugata, mangle, and mucronata ; Ceribps Roxburghianus, Can doleana, and Kandelia Rheedii.
Mangroves abound on the coasts of the Bay of Bengal, and of the Indian islands. The true man groves are remarkable for the copious develop ment of adventitious roots, which arch outwards from the base of the stem over the reeking mud flats in which they delight ; and yet more so from the circumstance that the seed germinates in the ripe fruit while still attached to the parent tree,grow ing down into the mud, or attaining a foot or morein length before falling. Rhizophora mangle is used in tanning, and its wood gives a red dye. The tree forms a striking feature in the physical geography of the Archipelago, as it does indeed of all tropical countries, for a belt of it as deep as the reach of the tide is always found wherever there is a shallow and muddy shore. The tree rises to the height of 40 or 50 feet, and is invariably found in such situations constituting a dense and almost impenetrable forest. Each tree, stands on a cradle of its own roots from 5 to 6 'feet high, bare at low water, but as the tide rises cvered so as to give the appearance of trees grol *ng in the sea. Mangrove jungle is the favourite \resort of
mosquitoes and crocodiles, and affords a corvenient and almost inaccessible retreat to pirates. \ The bark of Rhizophora mangle is used in the East and West Indies to dye chocolate colour. This was one of the colours introduced by Dr. Banl croft, and for the exclusive use of which he obtained an Act of Parliament. It is procured in plenty at Arakan, in Malabar, and at Singapore, and as it is often imported for tanning, can be readily enough obtained if found valuable to the home dyer. The bark of a small tree from the mangrove swamps is used by the Tavoy women in dyeing red, but Mr. Mason thinks • only as a mordant. Rhizophora gymnorhiza, the Kayu api-api of the Malays, is used for fuel in the Indian Archipelago. The cuttings of the black mangrove or Rhizophora (uppu ponna), as of the white mangrove, the Avicennia tomentosa (Mada chettu) and of the Sonneratia, are used for firewood at Masulipatam. Mangrove bark is imported from Singapore and Siam into China, where it is used to tan sails, cordage, and nets, and is called Kau p'i. Curriers in England have failed with it, although the bark, fruit, and roots all abound in tanniu.—Snzith, 1111M.C. ; Moyle, Fib. Pl, p. 301 ; Mason ; Crawford, p. 266; Cat. Ex., 1862.