Florida Forest Trees

Red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle)

The red mangrove is one
of the four mangrove
species found in the
mangrove ecological
community. The other
species within this
community are the white
mangrove (Laguncularia
racemosa), black
mangrove (Avicennia
germinans), and
buttonwood
(Conocarpus erectus).
Scientifically, they are
distantly related and are
only grouped based on
ecological function
within the community.

The mangrove
community
plays an important role in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Different mangrove
species protect and stabilize low lying coastal lands and provide protection and food sources for
estuarine and coastal fishery food chains. Mangroves serve as feeding, breeding, and nursery
grounds for a variety of fish, shellfish, birds, and other wildlife. Mangroves also produce 3.6 tons
per acre of leaf litter per year which benefit estuarine food chains. An estimated 75% of the game
fish and 90% of the commercial species in south Florida depend on the mangrove system.

Their tall arching roots called prop roots easily identify the red mangroves. Prop roots supply air to
the underlying roots and provide support and stability to the red mangrove. They also trap mud and
silt that flows with the tide, thus gradually increasing the soil around them. They are found closer
to the water than the other mangroves in the community due to their high salt tolerance. The wood
is used for fuel, piling, crossties, and charcoal. The red mangrove is also known for its large
quantity of tannins found in the bark. Red mangroves range from Daytona Beach and Cedar Key
southward.

Waterfront development has strongly affected the habitat of mangrove communities. Removal of
these trees and the destruction of mangrove wetland habitats endanger the natural systems of
Florida's coastal zone. The result of removal or damage to the mangrove communities has affected
Florida's coastal land by causing erosion and a decrease in food at the base of the food chain
supporting commercial fisheries.
Identifying Characteristics
Size/Form: The red mangrove is a tall tree that reaches 70' to 80' in height in the tropics;
however in Florida, it is characterized as a short bushy tree reaching about
20' in height. It is characterized by its numerous above ground roots called
 prop roots.
Leaves: The persistent leaves are oppositely arranged, 3" to 5" long and 1" to 2"
wide. They are elliptical in shape, dark green on top, and paler below. Leaf
margins are smooth.
Flowers: The flowers on the red mangrove are a pale yellow and appear in the spring.

Fruit: The leathery fruit is a rusty-brown conical berry. Before it falls from the tree,
one seeds germinate and send down an initial root, 6" to 12" long. When the
fruit falls this root lodges in the soil and the top begins to grow immediately.
This is a unique plant adaptation to the wet environment.

Bark: The thick gray to gray-brown bark is ridged and scaly.

Habitat: The red mangrove grows in brackish areas along creeks, bays, and
lagoons.

Photos
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Leaves, seeds, and initial roots Flowers Prop roots

In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous

flood.[1] Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, and
other herbaceous plants.

Woody plants will be low-growing shrubs. A marsh is different from a swamp, which has a
greater proportion of open water surface and may be deeper than a marsh. In North America, the
term "swamp" is used for wetland dominated by trees rather than grasses and low herbs.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Classifications
• 2 Associations
• 3 Ecology
• 4 Commercial application
• 5 Related phenomena
 • 6 See also

• 7 Reference line notes

[edit] Classifications
The water of a marsh can be fresh (freshwater marsh), brackish (brackish marsh), or saline (salt
marsh).

[edit] Associations
Coastal marshes may be associated with estuaries, and are also along waterways between coastal
barrier islands and the inner coast. The estuarine marsh, or tidal marsh, is often based on soils
consisting of sandy bottoms or bay muds. An example is the Tantramar Marsh of eastern
Canada.

[edit] Ecology
The Moriche Palm, Mauritia flexuosa, also known as the Ité Palm, Ita, Buriti, or aguaje
(Peru), is a palm tree. It grows in and near swamps and other wet areas in tropical South
America.

It is an elegant tree which can reach up to 35 metres in height. The large leaves form a rounded
crown. The flowers are yellowish, and appear from December to April. The fruit, which grows
from December to June, is a chestnut colour and is covered with shiny scales. The yellow flesh
covers a hard, oval, nut. The seeds float, and this is the means by which the palm tree propagates.
In natural populations the tree reaches very high densities. [1]

The Moriche Palm fruit is edible, has a high vitamin C content, and used to make juice, jam, ice
cream, and a fermented "wine". An oil high in vitamin A is extracted from the pulp and is
frequently used to treat burns because of its soothing qualities. The inflorescence buds are eaten
as a vegetable, and the sap can be drunk fresh or fermented (see palm wine). Threads and cords
are locally produced from the tree's fibers.

Buriti oil is an orange-reddish oil extracted from the fruit of the Moriche palm. The oil contains
high concentrations of oleic acid, tocopherols and carotenoids, especially β-carotene. Recently it
has been found to filter and absorb cancer-causing UV rays from the sun. [2]

This tree is important to many animal species, several bird species, such as the Red-bellied
Macaw, Sulphury Flycatcher and Moriche Oriole, use it for nesting and food. Many ungulates,
fish and monkeys depend on the fruit [3]
Royal Palm : Roystonea Regia

The Royal Palm Tree is the most recognizable and the most
attractive palm tree in the world. It is a truly magnificent, aristocratic and very stately tree.

The Royal Palm is placed in the genus Roystonea of the Arecaceae family and the tribe
Roystoneae. This genus was named for Roy Stone, a U.S Army general during the American
Civil War. There are approximately 10 different palm species belonging to the genus Roystonea.
All species of this genus are native to the Caribbean basin, Florida, Central and South America.
They are distinguished by tall, smooth, columnar trunks and large pinnate fronds. All species are
commonly known as the royal palms.

The Royal Palm tree, scientific name Roystonea Regia (synonym: Roystonea Elata), also known
as the Florida royal palm, Cuban royal palm is native to Florida, Mexico and the Caribbean
Islands.

Roystonea Elata is widely planted as an ornamental tree throughout the tropics and
subtropics. Royal palms are common in the Caribbean, Florida, the adjacent coasts of Central
and South America.
Roystonea Regia is the Cuba National Tree: “La Palma Real”. It is present everywhere at the
Cuban country side. It is the symbol of the Cuban people.

In these areas the Royal palm tree is not only a popular ornamental, but also an important source
for construction, thatch, lifestock feed, medicine and cooking oil.

Palmiste in English
palmaceous palm tree, tropical tree with a branchless trunk and large palmate
leaves branching from the top of the tree, cabbage palm

The mamoncillo (Melicoccus bijugatus) is a fruit-bearing tree in the soapberry family

Sapindaceae, native or naturalised over a wide area of the American tropics including Central
America, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos Islands,
Guyana, Suriname, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. It is also known as mamón (although use of
the word may be considered to be in bad taste in Spanish-speaking countries, as it can also mean
'person who sucks' (pejoratively) or even 'large breast'), and ackee (in St. Lucia, Barbados).
However, in the rest of the Caribbean the latter name is used to refer to the related Blighia
sapida), and the fruit is called chenet (in Trinidad and Tobago), guaya, gnep, guinep, skinnip
(in Jamaica, St. Kitts), genip, guinep, ginnip, kenèp (in Dominica, Guyana, Haiti, Belize,
Bahamas), (in some parts of Central America), talpa jocote, canepa, quenepa (in Puerto Rico),
genepa, xenepa, kenepa (in Curacao) and Spanish lime, limoncillo (in the Dominican
Republic).

It is a large tree growing up to 30 m high. The leaves are alternate, 8–5 cm long, pinnate with 4
or 6 opposite leaflets (no terminal leaflet), each leaflet 5–10 cm long. It is grown and cultivated
for its ovoid, green fruit, which grow in bunches. The fruit ripen during the summer. The fruit,
somewhat like a cross between a lychee and a lime, is classified as a drupe. A mamoncillo fruit
has a tight and thin but rigid layer of skin, traditionally cracked by the teeth. Inside the skin is the
tart, tangy, cream pulp of the fruit, which is sucked by putting the whole fruit inside the mouth
(the seed takes most of the volume of what is inside the skin). Despite the light color of the fruit's
flesh, the juice stains a dark brown color, and was often used by indigenous Arawak natives to
dye cloth.

Each mamoncillo fruit has a large seed inside, the same ovoid shape as the fruit itself.
Mamoncillo seeds can be roasted and eaten just like sunflower seeds or chestnuts.

The mamoncillo has small, greenish-white, fragrant flowers in panicles. They begin to blossom
from the branch tips when the rainy season begins. The mamoncillo is an example of a
polygamous plant, producing bisexual flowers as well as flowers that are exclusively male or
exclusively female. Occasionally, a bisexual flower will have a "dud" (sterile) anther, which
limits the number of fruits produced from self-pollination when cross-pollination is possible.

Being tropical, the mamoncillo prefers warmer temperatures. Its leaves can be damaged if the
temperature hits freezing point, with serious damage occurring below -4°C. Gardeners of
mamoncillos should occasionally give their plants heavy watering during the summer and
propagate via seeds; grafting is also used to propagate cultivars.

The mamoncillo is also commonly planted along roadsides as an ornamental tree.

This fruit can be sweet or sour. In the southern areas of Mexico it's generally eaten with chili
powder, salt, and lime. The sweet varieties are generally eaten without condiments of any kind.

Bombax is a genus of mainly tropical trees in the mallow family. They are native to western
Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, as well as sub-tropical regions of East Asia and
northern Australia. Common names for the genus include Silk Cotton Tree, Simal, Red Cotton
Tree, Kapok and simply Bombax. In Chinese they are known as Mumian (Chinese: 木棉;
pinyin: mùmián), meaning "tree cotton". Currently three species are recognised, though many
plants have been placed in the genus that were later moved.[1]

The genus is best known for the species B. ceiba, which is widely cultivated throughout tropical
and sub-tropical regions of the world. It is native to southern and eastern Asia and northern
Australia.

Bombax species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the
leaf-miner Bucculatrix crateracma which feeds exclusively on Bombax ceiba.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Description
• 2 Castle of the Devil
 • 3 References
• 4 Further reading

• 5 External links

[edit] Description
Bombax species are among the largest trees in their regions, reaching 30 to 40 meters in height
and up to 3 meters trunk diameter. The leaves are compound with entire margins and deciduous,
being shed in the dry-season. They measure 30 to 50 cm across and are palmate in shape with 5
to 9 leaflets. The calyx is deciduous, meaning it does not persist on the fruits. They bear 5 to
10 cm long red flowers between January and March while the tree is still leafless. The stamens
are present in bundles in two whorls, while the staminal column lacks lobes. The ovary matures
into a husk containing seeds covered by a fiber similar to that of the kapok (Ceiba pentandra)
and to cotton, though with shorter fibers than cotton, that does not lend itself to spinning, making
it unusable as a textile product.[2]

[edit] Castle of the Devil

According to the folklore of Trinidad and Tobago, the Castle of the Devil is a huge silk cotton
tree growing deep in the forest in which Bazil the demon of death was imprisoned by a carpenter.
The carpenter tricked the devil into entering the tree in which he carved seven rooms, one above
the other, into the trunk. Folklore claims that Bazil still resides in that tree[3].

Burseraceae is a moderately sized family of 17-18 genera and about 540 species of flowering
plants. The actual numbers differ according to the time period in which a given source is written
describing this family. The Burseraceae is also known as the Torchwood family[citation needed], the
frankincense and myrrh family, or simply the incense tree family. The family includes both trees
and shrubs, and is native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Just as the family size (in terms of genera and species) differs according to the time period of the
study, so too does its placement in the higher ranks. Nevertheless, the family is a genetically
supported monophyletic group currently and frequently cited within the Sapindales and is
recognized as a sister group to the Anacardiaceae. The Burseraceae members are characterized
by the non-allergenic resin they produce in virtually all plant tissue and the distinctive smooth,
yet flaking aromatic bark [1],[2]. The origins of the family can be traced to the Paleocene (~65
Mya) when Beiselia mexicana first diverged in Mexico [3]. The subsequent divergences in the
family lineage and migration of the species in the Eocene (~53 Mya) from North America have
led to the current distributions of the species that are primarily associated with the tropics [3].
Though the family likely originated in North America, the greatest generic diversity presently is
in the Southern Hemisphere [3]. Tabonuco (Dacryodes excelsa) and gumbo limbo (Bursera
simaruba) represent the economic, ethnobotanical, and ecological significance of the
Burseraceae in the Western Hemisphere, while frankincense (Boswellia carterii) and myrrh
(Commiphora abyssinica) represent the same in the Eastern Hemisphere.
Contents
[hide]

• 1 Key characteristics
• 2 Tribes, subtribes, and genera
o 2.1 Taxonomy
• 3 Order
• 4 Biogeography
• 5 Economic significance and ethnobotanic uses
• 6 See also
• 7 References

• 8 External links

[edit] Key characteristics

The Burseraceae trees or shrubs are characterized by resins (having triterpenoids and ethereal
oils;[4] that are present within the plant tissue from the vertical resin canals and ducts in the bark
to the leaf veins [1][2][5][6][7]. In fact, the synapomorphy of the Burseraceae is the smooth yet peeling
or flaking aromatic bark [1][2]. The clear, non-allergenic [1] resins may smell like almonds [2], but at
least the most well known resins, frankincense and myrrh, have an odor that is distinct from
almonds, smelling like incense. The leaves are generally alternate, spiral, and odd-pinnately
compound with opposite, frequently long-petiolulate, entire to serrate, pinnately veined leaflets
whose symmetry is distinctive in some genera [1][2]. However, some members are known to have
trifoliate or unifoliate leaves [1]. The leaf and leaflet stalks and axis may be brown and scurfy,
while the leaf base is swollen and may be concave adaxially [2]. The family members tend to be
without stipules [1][6]. The determinate, axillary inflorescences carry small, radial, unisexual
flowers [1][6]. The plants tend to be dioecious [1][6]. The flowers may have 4-5 faintly connate but
imbricate sepals with an equal number of distinct, imbricate petals [1][6]. Also, the stamens, that
may contain nectar discs, have distinct glabrous filaments that come in 1-2 whorls and in
numbers equaling or twice the number of petals; the tricolporate pollen is contained within 2
locules of the anthers that open longitudinally along slits [1]. The gynoecium contains 3-5 connate
carpels, one style, and one stigma that is head-like to lobed [1]. Each locule of the superior ovary
has 2 ovules with axile placentation that are anatropous to campylotropous [1]. The 1-5 pitted fruit
is a drupe that opens at maturity [1]. The endosperm is usually lacking in the embryo [1].

[edit] Tribes, subtribes, and genera

There is some discrepancy in the literature about the size of the Burseraceae. Records say that
the family has 17 [1][6][7] to 18 [3][5] genera and 500 [1][6] to 540 [7] to 726 species [3]. Other authors
cite different numbers: 16-20 genera and 600 species [4] ; 20 genera and 500-600 species [8];
According to a pollen studies and molecular data, the family is split up into three tribes: Protieae,
Bursereae, and Canarieae. The Protieae is composed of Protium (147 species and largest in this
tribe), Crepidospermum, Garuga, and Tetragastris [5]. The Bursereae, which is further split into
subtribes Boswelliinae and Burserinae, contains Commiphora (nearly 200 species and largest in
the family), Aucoumea, Beiselia, Boswellia, Bursera, and Triomma [5]. Finally, the Canarieae is
composed of Canarium (75 species and largest in this tribe), Dacryodes, Haplolobus,
Pseudodacryodes, Rosselia, Santiria, Scutinanthe, and Trattinnickia [5]. The morphology of the
fruit, which is a drupe, helps to distinguish between the three tribes [6][7]. Though the groupings
have slightly changed since the 1990s, Protieae is described as having a 2-5-parted drupe [7] with
either ‘free or adhering parts’ which are ‘not fused in the endocarp’ [6]; Bursereae is described as
having a drupe with parts that are fused in the endocarp but an exocarp with dehiscing valves [6]
[7]
; and the Canarieae as simply having a drupe with parts that are fused in the endocarp

incense tree — any of various tropical trees of the family Burseraceae

yielding fragrant gums or resins that are burned as incense