Life Span: long-lived perennial
Size: Height: 15 to 40 (60) ft Width: 10 to 30 ft
Noted for: Hurricane wind resistance
Recommended Uses: Valued as a shoreline stabilization plant. Can also be used for screening.
Propagation: Seed, but more often by propagule, which form while still attached to the mother plant.
Availability: Native nurseries
Salt Tolerance: Highly salt tolerant
Soil or other substrate: Sand
Larval host for mangrove buckeye (Junonia evarete) butterfly. Nectar plant for a variety of pollinators including the great southern white (Ascia monuste) butterfly.
Provides good cover for birds and other wildlife.
Native Habitats: Coastal mangrove wetlands, usually somewhat upland of the red mangrove(Rhizophora mangle) when found together.
Distribution and Planting Zones
USDA zones are based on minimum winter temperatures
Suitable to grow in:
Other Comments: The common name black mangrove is a reference to the color of the trunk and heartwood. The plant excretes salt from its leaves, an adaptation to a saline environment.
Pneumataphores rise above the substrate and make this an important plant for coastline erosion prevention.
This is a protected plant and you may not trim back or gather propagules without permission.