FLOWERING PLANTS OF THE SEA-SIDE 411 



marshes may be known by the yellow discs and purple rays of its 

 flower heads, which are arranged in a corymb. The florets of the ray 

 form a single row, and the fruit has a hairy pappus. The leaves 

 of this plant are spatulate and fleshy. A variety occurs in which 

 the purple florets of the ray are absent. The Golden Samphire 

 (Inula crithmoides) is a very local sea-side plant, being found 

 principally on the south-west coast. Its leafy stems grow to a 

 height of a foot or more, and bear yellow heads of flowers that 

 radiate in all directions. The leaves are linear, acute, and fleshy, 

 and the bracts are linear and imbricated. Our last example of the 

 sea-side composites is the Sea- side Corn Feverfew or Scentless 

 Mayweed, which is a variety of Matricaria inodora of waste places. 

 The leaves are sessile and pinnatifid, with very narrow segments, 

 and the white flowers grow in solitary heads. The maritime 

 variety differs from the normal form in having fleshy leaves. 



We next deal with another very extensive order (the Umbelliferce) , 

 which, however, has only three or four representatives on the shore, 

 and these introduce us to the last great division of the flowering 

 plants, namely, the Potypetalous Dicotyledons, in which the petals 

 are not united. Of these we shall first deal with that subdivision 

 in which the stamens are attached at the side of or upon the ovary. 



The most obvious characteristic of the Umbelliferte is that 

 implied hi the name the arrangement of the flowers in that form 

 of inflorescence, called the umbel, in which the pedicels all branch 

 from one point in the main stalk, and are such that the flowers are 

 all approximately on a level. The flowers are mostly small and 

 white, with five sepals (when present), five petals, and five stamens. 

 The inferior ovary is two-celled, bearing two styles ; and the fruit 

 separates into two dry one-seeded carpels that are ribbed longi- 

 tudinally. 



Our first example of this group is the Sea Carrot, a variety of 

 the Wild Carrot (Daucus carotd). In the ordinary form, which is 

 so common in fields, the leaflets are pinnatifid, with acute segments; 

 and the central flowers of each umbel are purple, while the 

 outer ones are white. The umbel, when in fruit, is concave 

 above. The maritime variety differs from this in having fleshy 

 leaves, and the umbel convex above when in fruit. The Sea Sam- 

 phire (Crithmum maritimum) grows on the rocks close to the sea, 

 and thrives well where there is hardly a vestige of soil. It usually 

 grows to a height of seven or eight inches, bearing greenish-white 

 flowers surrounded by a whorl of very narrow leaves. The other 



