Rhizophora mucronata, Lim Chu Kang mangroves.
"In Persia in the Carmanian district, where the tide is felt, there are trees of fair size like the andrachne in shape and in leaves; and they bear much fruit like in colour to almonds on the outside, but the inside is coiled up as though the kernels were all united. These trees are all eaten up to the middle by the sea and are held up by their roots, so that they look like a cuttle-fish."
– Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants IV, translated by Sir Arthur Holt.
"On the Red Sea, which at this point we have called the Persian Gulf, the tides of which are carried a long way inland, the trees are of a remarkable nature; for they are to be seen on the coast when the tide is out, embracing the barren sands with their naked roots like polypuses, eaten away by the salt and looking like trunks that have been washed ashore and left high and dry. Also these trees when the tide rises remain motionless although beaten by the waves; indeed at high water they are completely covered, and the evidence of the facts proves that this species of tree is nourished by the brackish water."
– Pliny the Elder, Natural History, translated by H. Rackham
"Whether the mangrove landscape was experienced by the travellers or was discovered by the readers of their narratives, it no doubt surprised them because it did not fit their ordinary perception of the world. Some sentences show clearly how much the Graeco-Romans were amazed by those trees rooted in the sea instead of the ground. The surprise is also expressed through a stylistic antinomy. In reality, from the ancient point of view, this unbelievable marine forest belonged to the category of paradoxa (marvelous, incredible things), which are indeed the major criterion in understanding landscape geography in antiquity.
– Pierre Schneider, The Discovery of Tropical Mangroves in Graeco-Roman Antiquity: Science and Wonder, The Journal of the Hakluyt Society, February 2011.
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