The mangrove tree has been regarded as a freak plant. The reason for this unique description of this woody perennial could be ascribed to the belief that it grows dominantly in a place where few other plants can thrive, in spooky places where reptiles abide, the refuge of haunted outlaws and depository of bones of deserters from long-ago ships. This belief is compounded by its eerie appearance at night when silhouetted against the moonlight. It resembles that of a crippled spider stalking across tidal flats. Against this strange background is man`s hesitance and seeming indifference to unravel its secrets and viability as a potential source of economic progress. In fact, man has little remorse for its destruction and degradation of its environmental habitat through coastal pollution, war, reclamation of swamplands for industrial and agricultural land uses and other coastal development.