Charles Sprague Sargent

“ The indigenous trees of no other region of equal extent are, perhaps, so well known as those that grow naturally in North America. There is, however, still much to be learned about them. In the southern states, one of the most remarkable extratropical regions in the world in the richness of its arborescent flora, several species are still imperfectly known, while it is not improbable that a few may have escaped entirely the notice of botanists ”

“ Avicennia produces hard strong wood. The bark is rich in tannic acid, and is used for tanning leather. The chief value of these trees is in their ability to live on low tidal shores by the structure of the embryo, which is growing and ready to take root as soon as it falls into the soft mud, and in the long horizontal roots furnished with short vertical fleshy leafless branches or aerating roots, forming a close network which holds the soil together and prevents it from being washed away by outflowing tides, and extends the growth of the tree by numerous stems which soon form dense thickets. ”

“ Trees or rarely shrubs, with deeply furrowed and sometimes laminate or with thin and scaly bark, hard or often soft heartwood often conspicuously marked by dark bands of summer cells impregnated with resin, pale nearly white sapwood, and large branch-buds formed during summer and composed of minute buds in the axils of bud-scales, becoming the bracts of the spring shoot. ”