FLO WEEING PLANTS OF THE SEA-SIDE 401 



creeping stems that lie buried in the sand, giving off numerous 

 root-fibres, and send up to the surface slender branches that bear 

 grass-like leaves. The flowers are unisexual, and are arranged in 

 two rows on the same side of a flattened stalk that is enclosed in 

 a sheath formed by short leaves. They have no perianth, the male 

 flowers being composed of a single anther, and the female of a one- 

 celled ovary containing a single ovule, and surmounted by a style 

 with two long stigmas. 



There are two species the Broad-leaved Grass Wrack (Z. marina) 

 with leaves one to three feet long and traversed by three or more 

 parallel veins, and the Dwarf Grass Wrack (Z. nana), the leaves of 

 which are less than a foot long, with veins numbering one to three. 

 There is a variety of the former, however, named Angustifolia, in 

 which the leaves are much narrower than usual, and the veins 

 fewer in number. 



The order Alismacece, which contains the water plantains, 

 arrow-heads, and other semi-aquatic plants, has a representative 

 of marine tendencies in the Sea-side Arrow 

 Grass ( Triglochin maritimum) . The flowers 

 of this order are bisexual, with six stamens 



FIG. 286. THE BROAD- FIG. 287. THE SEA-SIDE FIG. 288. THE 

 LEAVED GKASS WEACK AKKOW GRASS COMMON ASPARAGUS 



and a six-parted perianth. The fruit consists of many carpels; 

 and, although the plants are monocotyledons, their leaves have 

 netted veins ; and altogether they somewhat resemble the ranun- 

 culaceous exogens. The Sea-side Arrow Grass is abundant in 

 some salt marshes, growing to a height of about a foot, and pro- 

 duces loose simple spikes of green flowers all through the summer. 

 The leaves are radical, narrow and fleshy ; and the ovary consists 

 of six carpels. 



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