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Galapagos Islands plants
 In
the rest of this chapter we will look at the natural history of a few
dozen of the more common arid better known plant genera and species. In
this section the plant types are grouped together according to three
major ecological zones: coastal area (Littoral zone), dry area (Arid and
Transition zones), and humid area (Scalesia, Miconia, Brown and Pampa
zones).
The reader interested in further help with identification of
Galapagos plants
should consult one of the guides listed in the bibliography, on which
the descriptions given here are largely based (Wiggins and Porter 1971;
Schoenitzer 1975; Schofield 1970). I also recommend Eileen Schofield's
Plants of the
Galapagos: Field Guide and Travel journal as a portable and useful
field guide
Coastal Area Plants
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 The
plants of the coastal areas occur in a narrow zone near the shore and are
characterised by their tolerance of salty conditions. Many of the plants
found in this zone, especially the mangroves, provide breeding sites for
such birds as
pelicans, frigatebirds and herons, or provide shade for other animals such
as sea lions and marine
iguanas. The calm lagoons fringed by man-groves are used as refuges by
turtles.
Trees and Shrubs
Red Mangrove; Rhizophora mangle (Rhizophoraceae): Shrub or
tree (3-7 m), with stilt or prop roots. Large waxy-looking leaves on brownish
twigs. Cream coloured small flower in small groups. Characteristic long pendani fruit/seedling. This pioneer of the
coasts is found along sheltered shores and the edges of lagoons.
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 It
sends down rooting branches from its limbs making a tangled mass of prop-roots
that anchor the tree to the rocks. Its roots are in the intertidal zone and
accumulate organic and other debris that helps tostabilise shores. It is
dispersed by the sea, by having seedlings that develop on the parent tree
and drop off into the water, where they are taken and deposited elsewhere.
These usually take root when they are washed into a crack between rocks.
Oysters are often found attached to the roots. Red mangrove wood is hard and
resistant to rot..
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