416 



THE SEA SHOEE 



its pinkish-white flowers. The Sea Purslane (Honclcenyapeploides), 

 belonging to the same order, is also a creeping plant, with ovate, 



acute fleshy leaves, flowering 

 from May to August. It is 

 the only British plant of its 

 genus, and may be distin- 

 guished from others by the 

 absence of stipules, distinct 

 sepals, petals entire, ten 

 stamens, and from three to 

 five styles. The flowers are 

 white, solitary, and sessile. 

 The one remaining species of 

 the sea-side Caryopliyllacece 

 is the Sea Pearl Wort (Sagina 

 maritima). This plant is 

 closely allied to the last, 

 being a creeper with exstipu- 

 late leaves and distinct sepals, 

 but its flowers are reddish 

 white, on erect peduncles, 

 with very small petals. The 

 leaves, too, are linear, fleshy, 

 and obtuse. There are three 

 distinct varieties of this plant, 

 two of which have erect stems 

 with short internodes, while 



the third is procumbent with long internodes ; and in all three the 

 capsules are shorter than the sepals. 



A variety of the Common Milk Wort (Poly gala, vulgaris) order 

 Polygalacece is moderately common on sandy shores. The 

 ordinary form of the species, which is so common on heaths, is a 

 small plant with a woody stem, small ovate leaves crowded below, 

 and opposite lanceolate leaves above. The flowers are irregular 

 with five persistent sepals, two larger than the others ; three to 

 five petals, the lowest keeled, and all united to the tube formed by 

 the eight stamens, which are divided above into two bundles; and 

 the fruit is a flat capsule with two one-seeded cells. The flowers 

 are very variable in colour, being white, pink, lilac, or blue ; and the 

 seeds are downy. The sea-side variety (oxyptera) has smaller flowers 

 than the normal form, and the wings of the calyx are narrower. 



TRJ. 



FIG. 302. THE SEA CAMPION 



