Black mangrove (Avicennia germinans) — , native, iNat 406, the single most-recorded plant on the island . The Wildflower Center describes an evergreen shrub or small tree with thick, elliptic leaves one and a half to two and a half inches long, dark green above and pale gray and hairy beneath, small white flowers in July and August (sometimes in other months), and the feature everyone notices: many upright, unbranched breathing roots, the pneumatophores, that stand up out of the mud around the plant. It can reach about fifty feet in the tropics but is much shorter here, and it is the hardiest of the mangroves, growing farther north along the Gulf and farther inland than the others, becoming smaller and shrubbier northward and dying back in cold winters at its range edge .
Observe responsibly
Wildlife, tides and access conditions change. Keep a respectful distance, do not feed wildlife, stay out of dunes and marked nesting areas, and use current official rules before fishing or handling any catch.