Since mangroves are found on the coastlines, they need to have characteristics that will help them to adapt to the salinity in these areas. The red mangrove trees use the roots in a complex system to excrete the salt from the water. "The survival of this tree in brackish water is a direct result of the tree's ability to adapt to its environment by using its roots to remove 99/100ths of the salt from the water it drinks. Red Mangrove tissue samples, when analyzed, revealed that the salt content of the water in those samples had approximately 1/100th of the salt found in the water in which the trees were growing" (Phillips, 2003). The black mangroves excrete salt from the water through short, dense hairs located on the underside of the leaves. The white mangroves excrete the salt through two bumps at the base of their leaves. Both the hairs for the black mangroves and the bumps for the white mangroves are called glands.