Wetlands Plant Species at FMEL: Black Mangrove

Avicenia germinans

Trees up to 20m tall with large spreading branches and dark brown bark. Leaves are opposite, leathery, and narrowly elliptic, dark green above, pale and hairy below, often coated with salt as shown at left. Flowers are yellow, and clustered in short spikes. Black mangroves form a carpet of short aerial roots, or pneumatophores surrounding the plant (see picture above). Fruit are green and lima bean-shaped. Usually found landwise of the red mangroves, the species grows well in may different substrates, and is the most cold-hardy of the Florida mangroves.