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If you're a birdwatcher, mangroves are home to a variety of birds. Ospreys, wood storks, a variety of herons and egrets, bald eagles, cormorants, brown pelicans, ibis and roseate spoonbills, among others, all make their homes in mangrove branches and hunt for their food in the prop roots.
Mangroves are attractive to tourists because of the fauna that inhabit these forests. In Florida, you may see manatees, alligators, crocodiles, raccoons and snakes, just to name a few.
Mangroves are best explored by canoe or kayak in many of Florida's State Parks or Everglades National Park. Kayaking and canoeing ecotours are available around the world in many exotic regions.
The wood of the tree has a high calorific value, meaning it produces high heat when burned, making it the wood of choice in the manufacture of charcoal in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Mangrove charcoal is one of the heaviest charcoals. It is used for BBQ in restaurants, outdoor picnic charcoal packs, and in some industrial applications like metal production. One advantage of this charcoal is it gives a special aroma to BBQ when burning. There are two types of mangrove charcoal: trunk and branch. NOTE: Mangrove charcoal is not available through this website.
And there are many more uses, such as:
- The bark, leaf shoots and roots of the trees supply tannin used for dyes, leather preservatives and furniture stains.
- Mangrove sap is used by East Africans and Polynesians to make the black dye for tapa cloth.
- Leaves are used for livestock food, as "green manure" in fishponds, and as tea and tobacco.
- The fruits are said to be edible and flowers are a source of honey and fish poison.
- Mangroves are being studied as a source of pesticides and agrochemical compounds.
- Toxins found in mangroves may play a future roll in repelling insects.
- Resin extracted from the tree is used in producing plywood adhesives. The manufacture of chipboard and pulpwood (newspaper and cardboard), all depend on by-products of the red mangrove.
- The ash of the red mangrove is used as a soap substitute and other mangrove extracts are used to produce synthetic fibers, such as rayon, and cosmetics.
- Mangroves are also used as a source of food (mangrove-derived honey, vinegar, salt and cooking oil) and drink (alcohol and wine).
- In Japan, Australia and the United States, germinated propagules are planted in non-porous pots, making unique houseplants.
Skin disorders and sores – including leprosy – may be treated with ashes or bark infusions of certain species of mangrove. Reported to be an astringent, emmenagogue, expectorant, hemostat, styptic and tonic, red mangrove is a folk remedy for angina, asthma, backache, boils, constipation, convulsions, diarrhea, dysentery, dyspepsia, elephantiasis, eye ailments, fever, fungal infections, headaches, hemorrhage, inflammation, jaundice, kidney stones, lesions, malaria, malignancies, rheumatism, snakebites, sores, sore throat, syphilis, toothache, tuberculosis, ulcers and wounds.
A cure for throat cancer by gargling with extract of mangrove bark has been reported by a Cali, Colombia doctor.
More information on the chemical constituents of these plants is needed, not only for the discovery of new drugs, but because such information may be of use to those interested in "deciphering" the value of folklore remedies.