This paper reviews and discusses the technical terms and definition of mangrove and mangal, as well as mangrove plant. The word mangrove has been used to refer either to the constituent plant of tropical and subtropical intertidal community or to the community itself, but this usage makes more confusion. Being leaved mangrove in the more limited sense for the constituent plant species, mangal was proposed by MacNae (1968) as a term for mangrove community, which has been universally applied to most previous studies and should be adopted now. Mangrove should be therefore defined as a tropical and subtropical tree restricted to intertidal zones, which possesses some morphological specializion and physiological mechanism adapted to its habitat, and mangal as a tropical and subtropical forest community restricted to marine intertidal zones and periodically inundeated by the tides. A new term "consortive plant" is proposed here for herb, liana, epiphyte or parasite, which is restricted in the strict mangrove habitat.
The species composition and characteristics of mangrove flora in the world were reviewed and discussed. The results suggested that the world's mangrove plants have 84 species (including 12 varieties) in 24 genera and 16 families. Of which, true mangrove plants have 70 species (including 12 varieties) in 16 genera and 11 families, and semi-mangrove plants 14 species in eight genera and five families. The Eastern Group has 74 species (including 12 varieties) in 18 genera and 14 families, characterized by the genera Aegiceras, Osbornia, Aegialitis, Bruguiera, Ceriops, Kandelia, Scyphiphora and Nypa etc. The Western Group has only 10 species in six genera and five families, characterized by the endemic one-species family, Pelliceraceae, and the genus Laguncularia. The mangrove flora of China is composed of 26 species (including one variety) in 15 genera and 12 families, four of which are endemic. Hainan is most rich in mangrove species, making up about 96.2% of the Chinese total; Guangdong ranks second, making up about 42.3%. It has been demonstrated that Rhizophora stylosa was mistaken for R. mucronata in Taiwan by previous authors.
