Plant of My Land: Mangroves
Plant of My Land is a BOTANY and other stories project. It asks people who live in Hay-on-Wye and the surrounding area – whether British or born elsewhere in the world – what is the plant that they associate with their home.
Kieran Cheverton lives in Hay-on-Wye where he runs Castle Greengrocers with his wife Anna.
When I think of Southern Florida, I think of... Mangroves
10th September 1991: “Shark spit!!” (egg sack of the moon snail). The yell doesn’t forewarn me as the oceanic jelly slaps my back. I’m already grabbing a handful of seaweed to launch in my brother’s direction. Our parents rest on the sands by a lump of driftwood the size of a tree, discarded by some forgotten storm.
My brother hauls himself into the dinghy and I pull him through waist high water straining against the salt. I glance to the horizon, we could walk a mile in the shallows but the shelf is an unknown dark vertigo.
No, our adventure lies on shore amidst the dense lattice of roots and excellent climbing of the mangrove swamps. Rhizophora mangle, a sublime name for these saltwater climbing frames. As we get close the sand softens and my feet sink deep, the ground around these swamps can be treacherous. I swim the last ten yards and tie the raft. My brother lazily swings feet and hands between the vine like tubes. I’m in the water like a dugong weaving looking for a good plant to scale.
We have reached the canopy of the mangroves; they are taller further inland but the water is deeper here. This is a good spot, the hum of adrenaline, the rush of air, slap, splash and the brief peace suspended in the cool depths.
