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A halophyte is a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil or waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as in saline semi-deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs, and seashores. The word derives from Ancient Greek ἅλας (halas) 'salt' and φυτόν (phyton) 'plant'.
Mangroves are hardy shrubs and trees that thrive in salt water and have specialised adaptations so they can survive the volatile energies of intertidal zones along marine coasts. A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal ...
Rhizophora mangle, also known as the red mangrove, [1] is a salt-tolerant, small-to-medium sized evergreen tree restricted to coastal, estuarine ecosystems along the southern portions of North America, the Caribbean as well as Central America and tropical West Africa. [2]
Within a mangrove forest, the most salt-tolerant species occur near the ocean. Excoecaria agallocha, known as a back mangrove, is found at higher elevations back away from the ocean where salinity is lower. [6] Mangroves of this plant surround the ancient Thillai Chidambaram Temple in Tamil Nadu. This small tree species may grow up to 15 m high.
These include tolerance to conditions of high soil salinity, tolerance to submergence in water, or waterlogged soil, and to low oxygen conditions. The use of water to disperse young plants is also very characteristic of mangroves. [6] As a result of the water-logged soil that mangrove trees reside in, they have formed adaptations to help them ...
Among Rhizophoreae, there are three distinctive characters known as the adaptive features to the mangrove habitats: viviparous embryogenesis, high salt tolerance and aerial roots. [ 8 ] Vivipary: The embryo of Rhizophoreae starts germination without dormancy. [ 8 ]
Mangrove plants require a number of physiological adaptations to overcome the problems of low environmental oxygen levels, high salinity, and frequent tidal flooding.Each species has its own solutions to these problems; this may be the primary reason why, on some shorelines, mangrove tree species show distinct zonation.
It grows in swamps and mangrove forests, salt marshes and on river banks and is tolerant of raised salinity levels. The spores germinate better, however, in fresh water. It tends to grow on slight elevations in the mangrove swamp in areas which are inundated by the sea occasionally. It can also grow in freshwater locations.