FAUNA AND FLORA O F MANGROVE SWAMPS
119
by decaying mats of phragmites and other grasses which grow on the
moist soil behind.
At Inhambane extensive sandbanks are exposed a t times of low tide
and almost the entire area capable of colonization by mangroves is
occupied by dwarf bushes, mostly close to or just above waist height.
Among these Avicennia marina is dominant and bushes of Xonneratia
ulba and Ceriops tugal are scarce (Fig. 14). Only upstream in the small
rivers where beds of Phragmites and T y p h u provide a mass of decaying
leafage do the mangroves reach tree height, and in these stretches they
form a river bank fringe to a narrow forest of Heritiera littoralis and
this may be backed by a belt of Acrostichum aureum which in turn gives
way to a sward of Xporobolus virginicus and samphires or saltworts,
Xalicornia pachystachya Ung.-Sternb., Arthrocnemum indicum and A .
natalense (Bunge ex Ung.-Sternb.) Moss in Adamson. As one proceeds
farther upstream a barringtonia racemosa association follows.
FIG. 29. Distribution of mangroves at Low Isles, Queensland. Here Rhizophora stylosa
grows in an area permanently submerged and named the " Mangrove Park " by
Stephenson et al. (1931). The map was prepared from that given by Stephenson
et al. with emendations from that given by Fairbridge and Teichert (1947). (From
Macnae, 1966.)
A.X.B.-G
6
119
by decaying mats of phragmites and other grasses which grow on the
moist soil behind.
At Inhambane extensive sandbanks are exposed a t times of low tide
and almost the entire area capable of colonization by mangroves is
occupied by dwarf bushes, mostly close to or just above waist height.
Among these Avicennia marina is dominant and bushes of Xonneratia
ulba and Ceriops tugal are scarce (Fig. 14). Only upstream in the small
rivers where beds of Phragmites and T y p h u provide a mass of decaying
leafage do the mangroves reach tree height, and in these stretches they
form a river bank fringe to a narrow forest of Heritiera littoralis and
this may be backed by a belt of Acrostichum aureum which in turn gives
way to a sward of Xporobolus virginicus and samphires or saltworts,
Xalicornia pachystachya Ung.-Sternb., Arthrocnemum indicum and A .
natalense (Bunge ex Ung.-Sternb.) Moss in Adamson. As one proceeds
farther upstream a barringtonia racemosa association follows.
FIG. 29. Distribution of mangroves at Low Isles, Queensland. Here Rhizophora stylosa
grows in an area permanently submerged and named the " Mangrove Park " by
Stephenson et al. (1931). The map was prepared from that given by Stephenson
et al. with emendations from that given by Fairbridge and Teichert (1947). (From
Macnae, 1966.)
A.X.B.-G
6