Plants & Mangroves of La Saladita — Pacific Mexico Flora Guide

Four mangrove species: red (*Rhizophora mangle*, prop roots at water edge), black (*Avicennia germinans*, pneumatophores on intertidal mudflats), white (*Laguncularia racemosa*, mid-estuary), buttonwood (*Conocarpus erectus*, inland fringe). Behind the beach: tropical dry forest — bare Nov–May, flushing green with first rains. *Bursera* spp., agaves, cacti on rocky outcrops. 670+ species in combined iNaturalist/GBIF records within 25 km.

Field guide

Photo field guide

Plants you'll meet, by habitat

Mangroves (the estuary's framework)

Mangle rojo Red Mangrove Rhizophora mangle Prop roots, the front line

Mangle negro Black Mangrove Avicennia germinans Pneumatophores, salt-tolerant

Mangle blanco White Mangrove Laguncularia racemosa Inner zones

Mangle botoncillo Buttonwood Conocarpus erectus Transition zone, drier

Dry tropical forest trees

Guanacaste Guanacaste / Earpod Tree Enterolobium cyclocarpum Massive crown, signature tree

Ceiba Kapok Ceiba pentandra Sacred to Mesoamerica

Palo mulato Gumbo Limbo Bursera simaruba Peeling red bark

Ramón / Capomo Breadnut Brosimum alicastrum Maya staple, edible seeds

Higuera Wild Fig Ficus insipida Strangler, food for wildlife

Roble de sabana Pink Trumpet Tree Tabebuia rosea Spectacular dry-season bloom

Ciruela mexicana Mexican Plum Spondias purpurea Edible fruit, common in villages

Jícaro Jicaro Tree Crescentia alata Calabash gourds from trunk

Beach & dune

Riñonina Beach Morning Glory Ipomoea pes-caprae Pioneer, holds dune sand

Cocotero Coconut Palm Cocos nucifera Iconic; widely planted

Verdolaga marina Sea Purslane Sesuvium portulacastrum Salt-tolerant succulent

Cuabilla Bay Cedar Suriana maritima Shrub, dune backbone

Cacti & succulents

Pitahaya / Pitayo Organ Pipe Cactus Stenocereus thurberi Tall columnar, edible fruit

Nopal Prickly Pear Opuntia ficus-indica Edible pads and tuna fruit

Flowering & iconic

Cacaloxóchitl / Flor de mayo Frangipani / Plumeria Plumeria rubra Sacred, fragrant flowers

Bugambilia Bougainvillea Bougainvillea spectabilis Ubiquitous in Mexican villages

Tulipán / Obelisco Hibiscus Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Common ornamental, edible

Photos via iNaturalist (CC-licensed). Species grouped by habitat — front-of-estuary mangroves, dry tropical forest behind the village, beach and dune pioneers, and the cacti, fruit trees, and ornamentals that thread through it all. The mangroves are the keystone group: red mangrove builds the front edge with its prop roots, black mangrove the middle with its breathing pneumatophores, and white mangrove the inner brackish zone.

Live data · iNaturalist

Recent plant observations

Research-grade plant observations from iNaturalist within 25 km of La Saladita, last 90 days. Photos and identifications by the iNaturalist community.

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Most recorded plants

Top species by GBIF / iNat count

Amphiroa misakiensisUncommon · Jun–Nov
Hypnea pannosaUncommon · Jun–Nov
Caulerpa sertularioidesUncommon · Jun–Nov
Conocarpus erectusUncommon · Apr
Cocos nuciferaUncommon · Jan

With 670+ species and 3,645 total records, per-species percentages are all <3% — no species meets the "Common" threshold individually. Dominant group in records: intertidal algae (red algae, green algae), largely from GBIF marine surveys. Terrestrial plants are the everyday visible flora.

Data note

November observer bias applies

Raw peak month is November for plants (effort-inflated 6× vs. dry season). Normalized peak shifts to April — consistent with the late dry season / pre-rain flowering window. Per-species monthly counts are not available in the source artifact, so year-round classification is blocked for all individual plant species. The mangroves (red, black, white, buttonwood) are present year-round; that is established by regional ecology, not computed from frequency tags.

Mangrove estuary

The four mangrove species of the estuary

Red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) prop roots

Johannes Zorn (1739–1799) via Wikimedia Commons · Public Domain

Red mangrove · Estuary edge

Red mangrove

Rhizophora mangle LC → Uncommon in records · year-round presence (ecology) Last reported: via climatology

The outermost mangrove, growing directly into the water on distinctive arching prop roots. The root network creates underwater habitat — nursery for juvenile fish and refuge for invertebrates. Propagules (torpedo-shaped seedlings) drop and float until lodging in shallow sediment.

IUCN statusLeast Concern

ZoneOpen-water edge

Black mangrove (Avicennia germinans) pneumatophores

Codiferous / English Wikipedia via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Black mangrove · Intertidal mudflat

Black mangrove

Avicennia germinans LC → Uncommon in records · year-round presence (ecology) Last reported: via climatology

Identifiable by the dense carpet of pneumatophores — pencil-like aerial roots emerging from the mud. Tolerates higher salinity than red or white mangrove. Salt-secreting glands give leaves a crystalline appearance.

IUCN statusLeast Concern

ID keyPneumatophore carpet

Roger Culos via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

White mangrove · Mid-estuary

White mangrove

Laguncularia racemosa LC → Uncommon in records · year-round presence (ecology) Last reported: via climatology

Mid-estuary species growing between red and buttonwood zones. Lacks prop roots; smooth, pale-green leaves with two glands at the base of the blade are the clearest ID feature.

IUCN statusLeast Concern

ID keyGlands at leaf base

Mason Brock (Masebrock) via Wikimedia Commons · Public Domain

Buttonwood · Inland fringe

Buttonwood mangrove

Conocarpus erectus LC → Uncommon · Apr peak · 33 records Last reported: via climatology

Innermost mangrove associate occupying the landward fringe, transitioning into coastal dry forest. Dense canopy provides nesting habitat for herons and egrets. Small cone-like fruits give it its common name. 33 GBIF observations in the area.

IUCN statusLeast Concern

ZoneLandward fringe

Contribute observations

iNaturalist and the Seek app are the most effective ways to document the plant life at Saladita. Research-grade iNaturalist observations go directly into GBIF, the global biodiversity database, and contribute to long-term records for this coastline.

How to contribute: photograph the plant in good light, noting any leaf detail, flowers, or fruit. Submit via the iNaturalist app for community identification.

iNaturalist Mexico — add observations, browse local species lists, connect with botanists and naturalists active along the Guerrero coast.

Add an observation

Seek app (iNaturalist) identifies plants from your camera in real time — no internet required for identification. Useful in the field at Saladita where mobile data can be unreliable.

Every observation in this 25 km corridor helps build a more complete picture of the coastal flora. Mangrove health surveys, in particular, benefit from citizen-science documentation of prop-root density and canopy extent over time.

Observation record

Most-observed plant species (2000–2025)

Combined iNaturalist (research-grade) and GBIF records within 25 km of La Saladita. 671 plant species recorded across 3,645 observations. Note that GBIF's kingdom Plantae includes marine algae — the most-counted organisms in this dataset by sheer survey-effort bias; see methodology note below.

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Methodology & sources

iNaturalist (primary): iNaturalist Observations API, taxon_id=47126 (kingdom Plantae), lat 17.5897°N / lng -101.4317°W, radius 25 km, research-grade quality grade only. Paginated at 200 records per page; 2,150 records loaded. iNaturalist is preferred for plants because records are image-documented and community-verified, making species-level identification more reliable.
GBIF (supplementary): GBIF Occurrence Search API, taxonKey=6 (kingdom Plantae), bounding box 17.36–17.82°N / -101.68–-101.18°W, years 2000–2025, hasCoordinate=true. iNaturalist-origin GBIF records are excluded (already counted above). 1,495 non-iNat GBIF records loaded. GBIF taxonKey=6 includes marine algae (Rhodophyta, Chlorophyta, etc.) — the observed dominance of algae species in the top-observed list reflects GBIF herbarium survey effort in the marine zone, not their ecological importance relative to vascular plants.
Deduplication: iNaturalist records propagated to GBIF are counted once (iNaturalist source). Records are tagged by source; duplicates are filtered at the GBIF query stage by excluding records with "inaturalist" in the dataset name.
Notable groups: Mangrove, palm, cacti, dry-forest, and coastal species lists are curated from published botanical surveys of the Guerrero Pacific coast and are not limited to records in the digital databases. The four mangrove species are documented in herbarium collections from the region.
Sparse-data policy: If combined observations fall below 20, the page surfaces an explicit warning. With n=3,645 records, the dataset is adequate for species-level frequency analysis, though absolute abundance estimates are not appropriate.
Recent sightings widget: Calls the live iNaturalist API for research-grade observations within 25 km, last 90 days. Results include photos where available (iNaturalist CC-licensed imagery).
IUCN status: The four mangrove species listed here are currently Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Mangroves as a habitat type face ongoing pressure from coastal development and aquaculture; individual species assessments should be consulted for current regional status.

Data last refreshed: —