Laguncularia

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Laguncularia

Description

Mangrove shrubs or trees, with often simple pneumatophores and stilt-roots, not spiny; only ‘combretaceous hairs’ present apart from glandular pits on leaves. Leaves opposite, scattered but mainly submarginal minute pits on both surfaces each with basal sessile gland, without domatia; with petiolar glands. Inflorescences usually leafless axillary or terminal spikes or racemes of spikes; bracts very small, caducous. Flowers mostly bisexual but often some unisexual (mostly male) ones and sometimes (? usually) dioecious, actinomorphic, sessile, 5-merous; 2lateral prophylls (bracteoles) fused to lower hypanthium,upper hypanthium short, cupuliform; calyx lobes 5; petals 5, slightly exceeding calyx lobes; stamens 10, included or ± so, anthers versatile; style free, glabrous. Fruits slightly compressed longitudinally ridged nuts, upper hypanthium and calyx persistent, and 2 prophylls still visible.

Distribution

Atlantic coast of Africa present, Pacific and Atlantic coasts of America present
A single species on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of America and the Atlantic coast of Africa.

Wood

Growth rings absent.
Vessels diffuse, solitary and in few radial multiples of clusters of 2-3(-6), sometimes intermingled with very narrow vessels; (9-)15(-23) per mm², tangential diameter (41-)120(-152) μm. Perforations simple with horizontal to oblique end walls. Intervessel pits alternate, round to polygonal, vestured, 6-9(-11) μm. Vessel-ray pits similar but infrequently tending to horizontal arrangement and elongate, up to 15 μm. Solid amorphic contents abundant.
Rays uniseriate, (9-)10(-12) per mm, composed of square and upright cells, with rare procumbent cells. Prismatic to elongate crystals solitary, in upright ray cells. Granular contents in many ray cells.
Parenchyma apotracheal scantily diffuse and paratracheal abundant, aliform to confluent, completely surrounding the vessels, sometimes in irregular 2-5 cells wide bands; strands of 3-7 cells.
Ground tissue fibres thin- to thick-walled, non-septate. Pits simple to minutely bordered, mainly on radial cell walls; rarely with amorphic contents.