410 THE SEA SHOBE 



is rose-coloured. The Dwarf Centaury (E. pulchella), which 

 is common on some sandy shores, is much smaller than the 

 species that thrives in pastures, being only 

 two or three inches in height. Its stem is 

 also more freely branched, and its flowers 

 are axillary and terminal. The Tufted Cen- 

 taury (E. littoralis) and the Broad-leaved 

 Centaury (E. latifolia) occur in similar 

 Fio. 298. THE DWAKF situations but SXQ comparatively rare. 

 CENTAUKY They are both small species, the former 



with an unbranched stem, narrow leaves, 



and corymbose inflorescence ; and the latter with branched stem, 

 broad elliptical leaves, and flowers in dense forked tufts. 



The extensive order Composites contains comparatively few sea- 

 side plants, and, in dealing with these, we pass to another division 

 of the nionopetalous flowers, in which the ovary is inferior and the 

 stamens are on the corolla. The order includes those herbaceous 

 plants in which sessile flowers are collected together into com- 

 pound heads (capitula) surrounded by a whorl of bracts. The 

 corolla is either tubular or strap-shaped (ligulate), the stamens 

 four or flve in number, and the fruit one-seeded, usually crowned 

 with the liuib of the calyx in the form of a scaly feathery or hairy 

 pappus. 



The Little Lettuce (Lactuca salignd) is found in chalky 

 pastures near the east and south-east coasts, growing to a height 

 of about a foot, and bearing heads of yellow flowers in July and 

 August. All the flowers are ligulate and perfect, the pappus 

 is composed of silvery hairs, and the fruit is compressed and 

 beaked, the beak being twice as long as the fruit. The leaves are 

 smooth, linear, and sagittate, terminating in a sharp point. The 

 Sea-side Cotton Weed (Diotis maritima) is occasionally met with on 

 sandy shores, and may be recognised by its dense coating of downy 

 hair, its sessile obtuse leaves, and heads of yellow flowers forming 

 a corymb. The heads are discoid, and the fruit has no pappus. 

 The Sea Wormwood (Artemisia maritima) is a common sea-shore 

 composite, bearing drooping heads of reddish-white flowers in 

 August. This is another of the downy species, its pinnatifid leaves 

 having quite a woolly appearance. The capitulum contains but 

 few flowers, all of which are perfect ; and the fruit has no pappus. 

 A variety of this plant is sometimes seen, with dense erect capitula. 

 The Sea Aster or Michaelmas Daisy (Aster tripolium) of salt 



