On Fri, 3 Jun 2011 18:29:23 -0700 (PDT), csd
wrote:

On May 12, 6:15*pm, Peter Jason wrote:

Why doesn't the salt effect their growth, and where do they get fresh
water if many of these islands are just sand and coral?

Many shore-dwelling plants are acclimated to tolerate salt spray. In
fact there is one mangrove species in Indonesia and nearby countries,
Pemphis acidula, that is widely collected for bonsai. When in
cultivation, this tree must be sprayed daily with salt water in order
to survive. Urban growers buy sea salt from the aquarium store for
this purpose.
Obviously these trees have a source of fresh water. The larger islands
undoubtedly have fresh water supplies underground. Otherwise the trees
obtain it from rain.
Iris


I thought they might have some sort of "reverse osmosis" mechanism in
their makeup to take in seawater at 4% salt, remove some fresh water,
and then excrete a more concentrated salt solution.